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MIT announces five flagship projects in first-ever Climate Grand Challenges competition

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MIT today announced the five flagship projects selected in its first-ever Climate Grand Challenges competition. These multiyear projects will define a dynamic research agenda focused on unraveling some of the toughest unsolved climate problems and bringing high-impact, science-based solutions to the world on an accelerated basis.

Representing the most promising concepts to emerge from the two-year competition, the five flagship projects will receive additional funding and resources from MIT and others to develop their ideas and swiftly transform them into practical solutions at scale.

“Climate Grand Challenges represents a whole-of-MIT drive to develop game-changing advances to confront the escalating climate crisis, in time to make a difference,” says MIT President L. Rafael Reif. “We are inspired by the creativity and boldness of the flagship ideas and by their potential to make a significant contribution to the global climate response. But given the planet-wide scale of the challenge, success depends on partnership. We are eager to work with visionary leaders in every sector to accelerate this impact-oriented research, implement serious solutions at scale, and inspire others to join us in confronting this urgent challenge for humankind."

Brief descriptions of the five Climate Grand Challenges flagship projects are provided below.

Bringing Computation to the Climate Challenge

This project leverages advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data sciences to improve the accuracy of climate models and make them more useful to a variety of stakeholders — from communities to industry. The team is developing a digital twin of the Earth that harnesses more data than ever before to reduce and quantify uncertainties in climate projections.

Research leads: Raffaele Ferrari , the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Oceanography in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, and director of the Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate; and Noelle Eckley Selin , director of the Technology and Policy Program and professor with a joint appointment in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

Center for Electrification and Decarbonization of Industry

This project seeks to reinvent and electrify the processes and materials behind hard-to-decarbonize industries like steel, cement, ammonia, and ethylene production. A new innovation hub will perform targeted fundamental research and engineering with urgency, pushing the technological envelope on electricity-driven chemical transformations.

Research leads: Yet-Ming Chiang , the Kyocera Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Bilge Yıldız , the Breene M. Kerr Professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Preparing for a new world of weather and climate extremes

This project addresses key gaps in knowledge about intensifying extreme events such as floods, hurricanes, and heat waves, and quantifies their long-term risk in a changing climate. The team is developing a scalable climate-change adaptation toolkit to help vulnerable communities and low-carbon energy providers prepare for these extreme weather events.

Research leads: Kerry Emanuel , the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Atmospheric Science in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and co-director of the MIT Lorenz Center; Miho Mazereeuw , associate professor of architecture and urbanism in the Department of Architecture and director of the Urban Risk Lab; and Paul O’Gorman , professor in the Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

The C limate Resilience Early Warning System

The CREWSnet project seeks to reinvent climate change adaptation with a novel forecasting system that empowers underserved communities to interpret local climate risk, proactively plan for their futures incorporating resilience strategies, and minimize losses. CREWSnet will initially be demonstrated in southwestern Bangladesh, serving as a model for similarly threatened regions around the world.

Research leads: John Aldridge , assistant leader of the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Systems Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and Elfatih Eltahir , the H.M. King Bhumibol Professor of Hydrology and Climate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Revolutionizing agriculture with low-emissions, resilient crops

This project works to revolutionize the agricultural sector with climate-resilient crops and fertilizers that have the ability to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food production.

Research lead: Christopher Voigt , the Daniel I.C. Wang Professor in the Department of Biological Engineering

“As one of the world’s leading institutions of research and innovation, it is incumbent upon MIT to draw on our depth of knowledge, ingenuity, and ambition to tackle the hard climate problems now confronting the world,” says Richard Lester, MIT associate provost for international activities. “Together with collaborators across industry, finance, community, and government, the Climate Grand Challenges teams are looking to develop and implement high-impact, path-breaking climate solutions rapidly and at a grand scale.”

The initial call for ideas in 2020 yielded nearly 100 letters of interest from almost 400 faculty members and senior researchers, representing 90 percent of MIT departments. After an extensive evaluation, 27 finalist teams received a total of $2.7 million to develop comprehensive research and innovation plans. The projects address four broad research themes:

• Building equity and fairness into climate solutions
• Decarbonizing complex industries and processes
• Removing, managing, and storing greenhouse gases
• Using data and science to forecast climate-related risk

To select the winning projects, research plans were reviewed by panels of international experts representing relevant scientific and technical domains as well as experts in processes and policies for innovation and scalability.

“In response to climate change, the world really needs to do two things quickly: deploy the solutions we already have much more widely, and develop new solutions that are urgently needed to tackle this intensifying threat,” says Maria Zuber, MIT vice president for research. “These five flagship projects exemplify MIT’s strong determination to bring its knowledge and expertise to bear in generating new ideas and solutions that will help solve the climate problem.”

“The Climate Grand Challenges flagship projects set a new standard for inclusive climate solutions that can be adapted and implemented across the globe,” says MIT Chancellor Melissa Nobles. “This competition propels the entire MIT research community — faculty, students, postdocs, and staff — to act with urgency around a worsening climate crisis, and I look forward to seeing the difference these projects can make.”

“MIT’s efforts on climate research amid the climate crisis was a primary reason that I chose to attend MIT, and remains a reason that I view the Institute favorably. MIT has a clear opportunity to be a thought leader in the climate space in our own MIT way, which is why CGC fits in so well,” says senior Megan Xu, who served on the Climate Grand Challenges student committee and is studying ways to make the food system more sustainable.

The Climate Grand Challenges competition is a key initiative of “Fast Forward: MIT’s Climate Action Plan for the Decade,” which the Institute published in May 2021. Fast Forward outlines MIT’s comprehensive plan for helping the world address the climate crisis. It consists of five broad areas of action: sparking innovation, educating future generations, informing and leveraging government action, reducing MIT’s own climate impact, and uniting and coordinating all of MIT’s climate efforts.

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Associate Provost Richard Lester and Prof. Noelle Selin speak with Tiziana Dearing, host of Radio Boston , about MIT’s Climate Grand Challenges. “To me, the Climate Grand Challenges effort really represents that we’re kind of at a frameshift when thinking about the climate problem. It’s not just a problem that some people can work on,” says Selin. “A climate challenge is a whole of society challenge, and therefore it really has to be a whole of MIT challenge.” Lester adds he hopes the challenges will “inspire a new generation of students to roll up their sleeves, put their shoulders to the wheel and help us solve this problem.”

Boston Business Journal

MIT announced five projects "targeting the world's toughest climate riddles" that were selected following a rigorous two-year competition, reports Benjamin Kail for Boston Business Journal . “Climate Grand Challenges represents a whole-of-MIT drive to develop game-changing advances to confront the escalating climate crisis, in time to make a difference,” says President L. Rafael Reif.

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Climate change: a threat to human wellbeing and health of the planet. taking action now can secure our future.

BERLIN, Feb 28 – Human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world, despite efforts to reduce the risks. People and ecosystems least able to cope are being hardest hit, said scientists in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released today.

“This report is a dire warning about the consequences of inaction,” said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC. “It shows that climate change is a grave and mounting threat to our wellbeing and a healthy planet. Our actions today will shape how people adapt and nature responds to increasing climate risks.”

The world faces unavoidable multiple climate hazards over the next two decades with global warming of 1.5°C (2.7°F). Even temporarily exceeding this warming level will result in additional severe impacts, some of which will be irreversible. Risks for society will increase, including to infrastructure and low-lying coastal settlements.

The Summary for Policymakers of the IPCC Working Group II report,  Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability was approved on Sunday, February 27 2022, by 195 member governments of the IPCC, through a virtual approval session that was held over two weeks starting on February 14.

Urgent action required to deal with increasing risks

Increased heatwaves, droughts and floods are already exceeding plants’ and animals’ tolerance thresholds, driving mass mortalities in species such as trees and corals. These weather extremes are occurring simultaneously, causing cascading impacts that are increasingly difficult to manage. They have exposed millions of people to acute food and water insecurity, especially in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, on Small Islands and in the Arctic.

To avoid mounting loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure, ambitious, accelerated action is required to adapt to climate change, at the same time as making rapid, deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. So far, progress on adaptation is uneven and there are increasing gaps between action taken and what is needed to deal with the increasing risks, the new report finds. These gaps are largest among lower-income populations. 

The Working Group II report is the second instalment of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), which will be completed this year.

“This report recognizes the interdependence of climate, biodiversity and people and integrates natural, social and economic sciences more strongly than earlier IPCC assessments,” said Hoesung Lee. “It emphasizes the urgency of immediate and more ambitious action to address climate risks. Half measures are no longer an option.”

Safeguarding and strengthening nature is key to securing a liveable future

There are options to adapt to a changing climate. This report provides new insights into nature’s potential not only to reduce climate risks but also to improve people’s lives.

“Healthy ecosystems are more resilient to climate change and provide life-critical services such as food and clean water”, said IPCC Working Group II Co-Chair Hans-Otto Pörtner. “By restoring degraded ecosystems and effectively and equitably conserving 30 to 50 per cent of Earth’s land, freshwater and ocean habitats, society can benefit from nature’s capacity to absorb and store carbon, and we can accelerate progress towards sustainable development, but adequate finance and political support are essential.”

Scientists point out that climate change interacts with global trends such as unsustainable use of natural resources, growing urbanization, social inequalities, losses and damages from extreme events and a pandemic, jeopardizing future development.

“Our assessment clearly shows that tackling all these different challenges involves everyone – governments, the private sector, civil society – working together to prioritize risk reduction, as well as equity and justice, in decision-making and investment,” said IPCC Working Group II Co-Chair Debra Roberts.

“In this way, different interests, values and world views can be reconciled. By bringing together scientific and technological know-how as well as Indigenous and local knowledge, solutions will be more effective. Failure to achieve climate resilient and sustainable development will result in a sub-optimal future for people and nature.”

Cities: Hotspots of impacts and risks, but also a crucial part of the solution

This report provides a detailed assessment of climate change impacts, risks and adaptation in cities, where more than half the world’s population lives. People’s health, lives and livelihoods, as well as property and critical infrastructure, including energy and transportation systems, are being increasingly adversely affected by hazards from heatwaves, storms, drought and flooding as well as slow-onset changes, including sea level rise.

“Together, growing urbanization and climate change create complex risks, especially for those cities that already experience poorly planned urban growth, high levels of poverty and unemployment, and a lack of basic services,” Debra Roberts said.

“But cities also provide opportunities for climate action – green buildings, reliable supplies of clean water and renewable energy, and sustainable transport systems that connect urban and rural areas can all lead to a more inclusive, fairer society.”

There is increasing evidence of adaptation that has caused unintended consequences, for example destroying nature, putting peoples’ lives at risk or increasing greenhouse gas emissions. This can be avoided by involving everyone in planning, attention to equity and justice, and drawing on Indigenous and local knowledge.

A narrowing window for action

Climate change is a global challenge that requires local solutions and that’s why the Working Group II contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) provides extensive regional information to enable Climate Resilient Development.

The report clearly states Climate Resilient Development is already challenging at current warming levels. It will become more limited if global warming exceeds 1.5°C (2.7°F). In some regions it will be impossible if global warming exceeds 2°C (3.6°F). This key finding underlines the urgency for climate action, focusing on equity and justice. Adequate funding, technology transfer, political commitment and partnership lead to more effective climate change adaptation and emissions reductions.

“The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future,” said Hans-Otto Pörtner.

For more information, please contact:

IPCC Press Office, Email: [email protected]   IPCC Working Group II:  Sina Löschke,  Komila Nabiyeva: [email protected]

Notes for Editors

Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The Working Group II report examines the impacts of climate change on nature and people around the globe. It explores future impacts at different levels of warming and the resulting risks and offers options to strengthen nature’s and society’s resilience to ongoing climate change, to fight hunger, poverty, and inequality and keep Earth a place worth living on – for current as well as for future generations. 

Working Group II introduces several new components in its latest report: One is a special section on climate change impacts, risks and options to act for cities and settlements by the sea, tropical forests, mountains, biodiversity hotspots, dryland and deserts, the Mediterranean as well as the polar regions. Another is an atlas that will present data and findings on observed and projected climate change impacts and risks from global to regional scales, thus offering even more insights for decision makers.

The Summary for Policymakers of the Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) as well as additional materials and information are available at https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/

Note : Originally scheduled for release in September 2021, the report was delayed for several months by the COVID-19 pandemic, as work in the scientific community including the IPCC shifted online. This is the second time that the IPCC has conducted a virtual approval session for one of its reports.

AR6 Working Group II in numbers

270 authors from 67 countries

• 47 – coordinating authors
• 184 – lead authors
• 39 – review editors
• 675 – contributing authors

Over 34,000 cited references

A total of 62,418 expert and government review comments

(First Order Draft 16,348; Second Order Draft 40,293; Final Government Distribution: 5,777)

More information about the Sixth Assessment Report can be found  here .

Additional media resources

Assets available after the embargo is lifted on Media Essentials website .

Press conference recording, collection of sound bites from WGII authors, link to presentation slides, B-roll of approval session, link to launch Trello board including press release and video trailer in UN languages, a social media pack.

The website includes  outreach materials  such as videos about the IPCC and video recordings from  outreach events  conducted as webinars or live-streamed events.

Most videos published by the IPCC can be found on our  YouTube  channel. Credit for artwork

About the IPCC

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. In the same year the UN General Assembly endorsed the action by the WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC. It has 195 member states.

Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. For the assessment reports, IPCC scientists volunteer their time to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.

The IPCC has three working groups:  Working Group I , dealing with the physical science basis of climate change;  Working Group II , dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and  Working Group III , dealing with the mitigation of climate change. It also has a  Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories  that develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals. As part of the IPCC, a Task Group on Data Support for Climate Change Assessments (TG-Data) provides guidance to the Data Distribution Centre (DDC) on curation, traceability, stability, availability and transparency of data and scenarios related to the reports of the IPCC.

IPCC assessments provide governments, at all levels, with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC assessments are a key input into the international negotiations to tackle climate change. IPCC reports are drafted and reviewed in several stages, thus guaranteeing objectivity and transparency. An IPCC assessment report consists of the contributions of the three working groups and a Synthesis Report. The Synthesis Report integrates the findings of the three working group reports and of any special reports prepared in that assessment cycle.

About the Sixth Assessment Cycle

At its 41st Session in February 2015, the IPCC decided to produce a Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). At its 42nd Session in October 2015 it elected a new Bureau that would oversee the work on this report and the Special Reports to be produced in the assessment cycle.

Global Warming of 1.5°C , an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty  was launched in October 2018.

Climate Change and Land , an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems  was launched in August 2019, and the  Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate  was released in September 2019.

In May 2019 the IPCC released the  2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories , an update to the methodology used by governments to estimate their greenhouse gas emissions and removals.

In August 2021 the IPCC released the Working Group I contribution to the AR6, Climate Change 2021, the Physical Science Basis

The Working Group III contribution to the AR6 is scheduled for early April 2022.

The Synthesis Report of the Sixth Assessment Report will be completed in the second half of 2022.

For more information go to  www.ipcc.ch

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Remarks by the ipcc chair during the press conference to present the working group ii contribution to the sixth assessment report.

Monday, 28 February 2022 Distinguished representatives of the media, WMO Secretary-General Petteri, UNEP Executive Director Andersen, We have just heard …

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Fifty-fifth session of the ipcc (ipcc-55) and twelfth session of working group ii (wgii-12), february 14, 2022, working group report, ar6 climate change 2022: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability.

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Call for proposals: WHO project on ethical climate and health research

Deadline: 17 june 2024, 17:00 cest, overview and objectives.

Climate change is our most serious global health threat. And it is intensifying. Millions of people are at risk globally. We are only just beginning to understand the full range of health impacts associated with climate change. Research into climate and health, including both mitigation and adaptation responses is therefore essential, but such research gives rise to a range of ethical challenges. Studies investigating the nature and magnitude of health harms resulting from climate change can, for example, raise complex questions about how to communicate the risks of certain types of environmental exposures, especially when there are not yet many actionable ways to mitigate such risks.

Conducting research with no prospect of direct benefit amongst communities facing multiples sources of disadvantage, including what ancillary care or complementary services might be appropriate, also presents serious ethical challenges, including how to safeguard against extractive research practices. Different approaches to addressing or mitigating the health impacts of climate change will often require demanding trade-offs. Some of these might for example involve trade-offs between health gains, economic opportunities, individual choices, and other dimensions of wellbeing. The presence of these trade-offs further underlines how central ethics is in conducting research on climate change and health, and in navigating the potential options that can and should be used in response.

The WHO Health Ethics and Governance Unit  invites proposals designed to help facilitate the promotion of ethically sound and equitable climate and health research. We particularly welcome proposals reflecting the priorities and experiences of communities most affected by climate change. We are also aware that there is a serious lack of data regarding the health impacts of climate change for some populations and on some topics: the experiences of local and Indigenous Peoples are particularly under-represented. The impacts of climate change on mental health, and effective policy responses are also under-researched. We therefore also welcome proposals in these and other under-represented areas.

Proposals can address any ethical dimension of research into climate change and health, including both adaptation and mitigation responses, bearing in mind our commitment to global equity and the need for practical ethical guidance for the global health research community.

This call for proposals is the first step in an ambitious three-year project to develop an agenda for conducting ethical research into climate change and health. The call and associated commissioned and desk research will be followed by regional and global convenings to discuss findings and recommendations from the first stage, and the development of normative frameworks and supporting guidance.

Themes of particular interest include, but are not limited to:

Ethical challenges in conducting research on health impacts of climate change, as well as mitigation and adaptation strategies:

What unique or novel ethical issues does research in health and climate change give rise to? What ethical obligations does research in the face of climate uncertainty give rise to? Are there important ethical differences between research into mitigation and research into adaptation? What obligations do researchers have to research participants exposed to dangerous climate risks? What do these obligations entail? How can they be addressed by researchers and funders? What if these risks are extreme and may even involve existential threats? How can we ensure that research is non-extractive – that it does not transfer its benefits away from the populations being involved in the research? What obligations arise when conducting research with no prospect of direct benefit amongst communities facing multiples sources of disadvantage, including what ancillary care or complementary services might be appropriate? How might these questions vary for different kinds of research into health and climate change? Are our criteria and procedures for research ethics oversight adequate to the complex ethical challenges of research in the climate and health field?   Given the interdisciplinary nature of research into health and climate change, how can meaningful participation between disciplines be promoted, particularly given the status and power ordinarily conferred on the human life sciences? 

Setting priorities for research and action:

Given the scale and urgency of the impacts of climate change on health, what research topics should be given priority and why? How can we decide what resources should be allocated to research and what to direct response? Do we need to prioritise between mitigation and adaptation? How should various actors in the research and policy ecosystem assess priority areas for research? Substantively how do you balance considerations of urgency, need, opportunity, potential scalability, potential for policy impact, etc. Procedurally, how do you involve different stakeholders in setting the agenda, nationally, regionally, globally - and ensure different voices appropriately feed into priority setting, including scientific expertise, lived experience, representation of groups who may be disproportionately impacted or at greatest risk of health-related impacts? 

Justice considerations and the distribution of benefits and burdens:

How can we identify and address trade-offs across different affected parties, geographically, economically, generationally, including how the positive and negative impacts of different approaches are distributed? What kinds of non-human interests matter morally in decisions about the distribution of benefits and harms in research into health and climate change? On the basis of what criteria can we assess the nature of a benefit or a burden? How can we incorporate benefits and burdens to non-human parts of the environment into obligations to ensure fairness in their distribution? What, if any, moral discounting is defensible in considering possible trade-offs between human and non-human health when assessing the social value of research?

Assessing net benefit and trade-offs between different types of health gains and other social, economic, ecological, cultural considerations:

What kinds of trade-offs might be required between different types of health gain? How do we assess, factor in and adjudicate between direct human health gains and other benefits such as economic, ecological or broadly cultural benefits?   How can we incorporate the value of non-human individuals, species, systems and ecosystems into a plausible account of the social value of research in climate change and health? Who can speak for non-human interests when assessing the social value of research, under what authority and what factors should they take into account?

Representation, power, and epistemic justice in shaping the climate and health research agenda and practice:

Should some groups have special authority in setting the research agenda because of specific expertise, lived experience or greater exposure to the effects of climate change? How we can address unequal representation, under-represented voices and promote transdisciplinary approaches including via meaningful approaches to power-sharing, co-creation and co-design of research when setting the research agenda in health and climate change? How can power imbalances and inequalities be addressed? These questions are particularly urgent in relation to Indigenous Peoples, local groups and those who have been historically marginalised, and already experience disproportionately poor health. How then can the ongoing effects of epistemic injustice – the systematic devaluing of certain forms of knowledge, knowledge producers and knowledge transmitters – be addressed in the setting of the research agenda in health and climate change?

Valuing health, with a climate lens:

As we move toward measuring the health impacts, and potential benefits associated with climate change to inform decisions about different strategies, how can we think about measuring what benefits count, over time and across various types of health and broader benefits and potential harms associated with these strategies? Are current approaches to health economic modelling appropriate or adaptable? How do we value statistical future lives versus currently existing lives?

Proposals should clearly identify intended outputs and outline how these can support the development of ethical research into health and climate change. 

 Deadline: 17 June 2024, 17:00 CEST

-  detailed call for proposals [pdf], -  annex 1: vendor information form [word], - annex 2:  contractual provisions  [pdf]  .

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MIT scientists have pioneered efforts to understand the essential dynamics of global climate change and its effects across land, atmosphere, oceans, and ice sheets.

The climate crisis affects everyone. And in many parts of the world, those who are least equipped to handle their changing environment will be disproportionately impacted by it. Much can and must be achieved with existing technologies and policy approaches, including at MIT. In "Fast Forward: MIT's Climate Action Plan for the Decade," the Institute redoubles its bedrock commitment to expand humankind’s knowledge of the forces disrupting the climate.

With foundational scientific research and game-changing innovations, we can continue to address the grand challenge of climate change. Through MIT's Climate Grand Challenges, five flagship projects have been selected to help us fast forward to the future we want — and need — to see.

Mission directors announced for the Climate Project at MIT

EAPS Professor Andrew Babbin co-leads mission to restore atmosphere, protect land and oceans

The Climate Project will expand and accelerate MIT’s efforts to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and respond to climate effects such as extreme heat, rising sea levels, and reduced crop yields. At the urgent pace needed, the project will help the Institute create new external collaborations and deepen existing ones to develop and scale climate solutions.

Ocean vital signs

How much carbon can the ocean absorb and how much more it can take?

Researchers propose launching a fleet of oceangoing drones that would continuously monitor the flux of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and ocean, helping to inform next-generation visualizations and models of the global carbon cycle.

Predicting sea-level rise

Can we predict sea-level rise from the physics of ice sheets?

Brent Minchew, the Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), wants to more fully understand the most fundamental processes that govern rapid changes in glacial ice, and to use that understanding to build next-generation models that are more predictive of ice sheet behavior as they respond to, and influence, climate change.

Quote from Matěj Peč geoscientist and the Victor P. Starr Career Development Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)

“If we want to be anywhere near those limits of 1.5 or 2C, then we have to be carbon neutral by 2050, and then carbon negative after that."

geoscientist and the Victor P. Starr Career Development Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)

John Aldridge

Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Systems Group

Kristin D. Bergmann

Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)

Deborah J. Campbell

Alan Edelman

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Kerry Emanuel

Raffaele Ferrari

Arlene Fiore

Glenn Flierl

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Mary Gehring

John Marshall

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Paul O'Gorman

Sergey Paltsev

Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change

Ronald Prinn

Daniel Rothman

C. Adam Schlosser

Noelle Selin

Andre Souza

Yogesh Surendranath

Gregory LeClaire Wagner

A mineral produced by plate tectonics has a global cooling effect, study finds.

November 30, 2023

Explained: The 1.5 C climate benchmark

August 27, 2023

MIT scientists measure river flow rates on Mars and Titan, Saturn's largest moon

August 8, 2023

Climate change is changing the ocean's color

July 21, 2023

J-WAFS announces 2023 seed grant recipients

May 17, 2023

3 Questions: New MIT major and its role in fighting climate change

April 20, 2023

Australia’s massive wildfires shredded the ozone layer — now scientists know why

March 8, 2023

Q&A: Climate Grand Challenges finalists on building equity and fairness into climate solutions

March 4, 2022

MIT is creating a digital twin of the Earth to help model climate change

June 6, 2022

Looking to the past to prepare for an uncertain future

January 11, 2023

MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium announces recipients of inaugural MCSC Seed Awards

May 23, 2022

MIT announces five flagship projects in first-ever Climate Grand Challenges competition

April 11, 2022

Q&A: Climate Grand Challenges finalists on using data and science to forecast climate-related risk

April 7, 2022

Q&A: Climate Grand Challenges finalists on new pathways to decarbonizing industry

March 28, 2022

Q&A: Climate Grand Challenges finalists on accelerating reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions

March 17, 2022

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Editing Ourselves

With the CRISPR system, researchers can diagnose, detect, and potentially treat a host of diseases within the body using gene editing.

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The Science of Climate Change Explained: Facts, Evidence and Proof

Definitive answers to the big questions.

Credit... Photo Illustration by Andrea D'Aquino

Supported by

By Julia Rosen

Ms. Rosen is a journalist with a Ph.D. in geology. Her research involved studying ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica to understand past climate changes.

• Published April 19, 2021 Updated Nov. 6, 2021

The science of climate change is more solid and widely agreed upon than you might think. But the scope of the topic, as well as rampant disinformation, can make it hard to separate fact from fiction. Here, we’ve done our best to present you with not only the most accurate scientific information, but also an explanation of how we know it.

How do we know climate change is really happening?

• How much agreement is there among scientists about climate change?
• Do we really only have 150 years of climate data? How is that enough to tell us about centuries of change?
• How do we know climate change is caused by humans?
• Since greenhouse gases occur naturally, how do we know they’re causing Earth’s temperature to rise?
• Why should we be worried that the planet has warmed 2°F since the 1800s?
• Is climate change a part of the planet’s natural warming and cooling cycles?
• How do we know global warming is not because of the sun or volcanoes?
• How can winters and certain places be getting colder if the planet is warming?
• Wildfires and bad weather have always happened. How do we know there’s a connection to climate change?
• How bad are the effects of climate change going to be?
• What will it cost to do something about climate change, versus doing nothing?

Climate change is often cast as a prediction made by complicated computer models. But the scientific basis for climate change is much broader, and models are actually only one part of it (and, for what it’s worth, they’re surprisingly accurate ).

For more than a century , scientists have understood the basic physics behind why greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide cause warming. These gases make up just a small fraction of the atmosphere but exert outsized control on Earth’s climate by trapping some of the planet’s heat before it escapes into space. This greenhouse effect is important: It’s why a planet so far from the sun has liquid water and life!

However, during the Industrial Revolution, people started burning coal and other fossil fuels to power factories, smelters and steam engines, which added more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Ever since, human activities have been heating the planet.

Where it was cooler or warmer in 2020 compared with the middle of the 20th century

Global average temperature compared with the middle of the 20th century

+0.75°C

–0.25°

30 billion metric tons

Carbon dioxide emitted worldwide 1850-2017

Rest of world

Other developed

European Union

Developed economies

Other countries

United States

E.U. and U.K.

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A review of the global climate change impacts, adaptation, and sustainable mitigation measures

Kashif abbass.

1 School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094 People’s Republic of China

Muhammad Zeeshan Qasim

2 Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Xiaolingwei 200, Nanjing, 210094 People’s Republic of China

Huaming Song

Muntasir murshed.

3 School of Business and Economics, North South University, Dhaka, 1229 Bangladesh

4 Department of Journalism, Media and Communications, Daffodil International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Haider Mahmood

5 Department of Finance, College of Business Administration, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, 173, Alkharj, 11942 Saudi Arabia

Ijaz Younis

Associated data.

Data sources and relevant links are provided in the paper to access data.

Climate change is a long-lasting change in the weather arrays across tropics to polls. It is a global threat that has embarked on to put stress on various sectors. This study is aimed to conceptually engineer how climate variability is deteriorating the sustainability of diverse sectors worldwide. Specifically, the agricultural sector’s vulnerability is a globally concerning scenario, as sufficient production and food supplies are threatened due to irreversible weather fluctuations. In turn, it is challenging the global feeding patterns, particularly in countries with agriculture as an integral part of their economy and total productivity. Climate change has also put the integrity and survival of many species at stake due to shifts in optimum temperature ranges, thereby accelerating biodiversity loss by progressively changing the ecosystem structures. Climate variations increase the likelihood of particular food and waterborne and vector-borne diseases, and a recent example is a coronavirus pandemic. Climate change also accelerates the enigma of antimicrobial resistance, another threat to human health due to the increasing incidence of resistant pathogenic infections. Besides, the global tourism industry is devastated as climate change impacts unfavorable tourism spots. The methodology investigates hypothetical scenarios of climate variability and attempts to describe the quality of evidence to facilitate readers’ careful, critical engagement. Secondary data is used to identify sustainability issues such as environmental, social, and economic viability. To better understand the problem, gathered the information in this report from various media outlets, research agencies, policy papers, newspapers, and other sources. This review is a sectorial assessment of climate change mitigation and adaptation approaches worldwide in the aforementioned sectors and the associated economic costs. According to the findings, government involvement is necessary for the country’s long-term development through strict accountability of resources and regulations implemented in the past to generate cutting-edge climate policy. Therefore, mitigating the impacts of climate change must be of the utmost importance, and hence, this global threat requires global commitment to address its dreadful implications to ensure global sustenance.

Introduction

Worldwide observed and anticipated climatic changes for the twenty-first century and global warming are significant global changes that have been encountered during the past 65 years. Climate change (CC) is an inter-governmental complex challenge globally with its influence over various components of the ecological, environmental, socio-political, and socio-economic disciplines (Adger et al.  2005 ; Leal Filho et al.  2021 ; Feliciano et al.  2022 ). Climate change involves heightened temperatures across numerous worlds (Battisti and Naylor  2009 ; Schuurmans  2021 ; Weisheimer and Palmer  2005 ; Yadav et al.  2015 ). With the onset of the industrial revolution, the problem of earth climate was amplified manifold (Leppänen et al.  2014 ). It is reported that the immediate attention and due steps might increase the probability of overcoming its devastating impacts. It is not plausible to interpret the exact consequences of climate change (CC) on a sectoral basis (Izaguirre et al.  2021 ; Jurgilevich et al.  2017 ), which is evident by the emerging level of recognition plus the inclusion of climatic uncertainties at both local and national level of policymaking (Ayers et al.  2014 ).

Climate change is characterized based on the comprehensive long-haul temperature and precipitation trends and other components such as pressure and humidity level in the surrounding environment. Besides, the irregular weather patterns, retreating of global ice sheets, and the corresponding elevated sea level rise are among the most renowned international and domestic effects of climate change (Lipczynska-Kochany  2018 ; Michel et al.  2021 ; Murshed and Dao 2020 ). Before the industrial revolution, natural sources, including volcanoes, forest fires, and seismic activities, were regarded as the distinct sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O, and H 2 O into the atmosphere (Murshed et al. 2020 ; Hussain et al.  2020 ; Sovacool et al.  2021 ; Usman and Balsalobre-Lorente 2022 ; Murshed 2022 ). United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) struck a major agreement to tackle climate change and accelerate and intensify the actions and investments required for a sustainable low-carbon future at Conference of the Parties (COP-21) in Paris on December 12, 2015. The Paris Agreement expands on the Convention by bringing all nations together for the first time in a single cause to undertake ambitious measures to prevent climate change and adapt to its impacts, with increased funding to assist developing countries in doing so. As so, it marks a turning point in the global climate fight. The core goal of the Paris Agreement is to improve the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2 °C over pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5° C (Sharma et al. 2020 ; Sharif et al. 2020 ; Chien et al. 2021 .

Furthermore, the agreement aspires to strengthen nations’ ability to deal with the effects of climate change and align financing flows with low GHG emissions and climate-resilient paths (Shahbaz et al. 2019 ; Anwar et al. 2021 ; Usman et al. 2022a ). To achieve these lofty goals, adequate financial resources must be mobilized and provided, as well as a new technology framework and expanded capacity building, allowing developing countries and the most vulnerable countries to act under their respective national objectives. The agreement also establishes a more transparent action and support mechanism. All Parties are required by the Paris Agreement to do their best through “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in the coming years (Balsalobre-Lorente et al. 2020 ). It includes obligations that all Parties regularly report on their emissions and implementation activities. A global stock-take will be conducted every five years to review collective progress toward the agreement’s goal and inform the Parties’ future individual actions. The Paris Agreement became available for signature on April 22, 2016, Earth Day, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. On November 4, 2016, it went into effect 30 days after the so-called double threshold was met (ratification by 55 nations accounting for at least 55% of world emissions). More countries have ratified and continue to ratify the agreement since then, bringing 125 Parties in early 2017. To fully operationalize the Paris Agreement, a work program was initiated in Paris to define mechanisms, processes, and recommendations on a wide range of concerns (Murshed et al. 2021 ). Since 2016, Parties have collaborated in subsidiary bodies (APA, SBSTA, and SBI) and numerous formed entities. The Conference of the Parties functioning as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) convened for the first time in November 2016 in Marrakesh in conjunction with COP22 and made its first two resolutions. The work plan is scheduled to be finished by 2018. Some mitigation and adaptation strategies to reduce the emission in the prospective of Paris agreement are following firstly, a long-term goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, secondly, to aim to limit the rise to 1.5 °C, since this would significantly reduce risks and the impacts of climate change, thirdly, on the need for global emissions to peak as soon as possible, recognizing that this will take longer for developing countries, lastly, to undertake rapid reductions after that under the best available science, to achieve a balance between emissions and removals in the second half of the century. On the other side, some adaptation strategies are; strengthening societies’ ability to deal with the effects of climate change and to continue & expand international assistance for developing nations’ adaptation.

However, anthropogenic activities are currently regarded as most accountable for CC (Murshed et al. 2022 ). Apart from the industrial revolution, other anthropogenic activities include excessive agricultural operations, which further involve the high use of fuel-based mechanization, burning of agricultural residues, burning fossil fuels, deforestation, national and domestic transportation sectors, etc. (Huang et al.  2016 ). Consequently, these anthropogenic activities lead to climatic catastrophes, damaging local and global infrastructure, human health, and total productivity. Energy consumption has mounted GHGs levels concerning warming temperatures as most of the energy production in developing countries comes from fossil fuels (Balsalobre-Lorente et al. 2022 ; Usman et al. 2022b ; Abbass et al. 2021a ; Ishikawa-Ishiwata and Furuya  2022 ).

This review aims to highlight the effects of climate change in a socio-scientific aspect by analyzing the existing literature on various sectorial pieces of evidence globally that influence the environment. Although this review provides a thorough examination of climate change and its severe affected sectors that pose a grave danger for global agriculture, biodiversity, health, economy, forestry, and tourism, and to purpose some practical prophylactic measures and mitigation strategies to be adapted as sound substitutes to survive from climate change (CC) impacts. The societal implications of irregular weather patterns and other effects of climate changes are discussed in detail. Some numerous sustainable mitigation measures and adaptation practices and techniques at the global level are discussed in this review with an in-depth focus on its economic, social, and environmental aspects. Methods of data collection section are included in the supplementary information.

Review methodology

Related study and its objectives.

Today, we live an ordinary life in the beautiful digital, globalized world where climate change has a decisive role. What happens in one country has a massive influence on geographically far apart countries, which points to the current crisis known as COVID-19 (Sarkar et al.  2021 ). The most dangerous disease like COVID-19 has affected the world’s climate changes and economic conditions (Abbass et al. 2022 ; Pirasteh-Anosheh et al.  2021 ). The purpose of the present study is to review the status of research on the subject, which is based on “Global Climate Change Impacts, adaptation, and sustainable mitigation measures” by systematically reviewing past published and unpublished research work. Furthermore, the current study seeks to comment on research on the same topic and suggest future research on the same topic. Specifically, the present study aims: The first one is, organize publications to make them easy and quick to find. Secondly, to explore issues in this area, propose an outline of research for future work. The third aim of the study is to synthesize the previous literature on climate change, various sectors, and their mitigation measurement. Lastly , classify the articles according to the different methods and procedures that have been adopted.

Review methodology for reviewers

This review-based article followed systematic literature review techniques that have proved the literature review as a rigorous framework (Benita  2021 ; Tranfield et al.  2003 ). Moreover, we illustrate in Fig.  1 the search method that we have started for this research. First, finalized the research theme to search literature (Cooper et al.  2018 ). Second, used numerous research databases to search related articles and download from the database (Web of Science, Google Scholar, Scopus Index Journals, Emerald, Elsevier Science Direct, Springer, and Sciverse). We focused on various articles, with research articles, feedback pieces, short notes, debates, and review articles published in scholarly journals. Reports used to search for multiple keywords such as “Climate Change,” “Mitigation and Adaptation,” “Department of Agriculture and Human Health,” “Department of Biodiversity and Forestry,” etc.; in summary, keyword list and full text have been made. Initially, the search for keywords yielded a large amount of literature.

Methodology search for finalized articles for investigations.

Source : constructed by authors

Since 2020, it has been impossible to review all the articles found; some restrictions have been set for the literature exhibition. The study searched 95 articles on a different database mentioned above based on the nature of the study. It excluded 40 irrelevant papers due to copied from a previous search after readings tiles, abstract and full pieces. The criteria for inclusion were: (i) articles focused on “Global Climate Change Impacts, adaptation, and sustainable mitigation measures,” and (ii) the search key terms related to study requirements. The complete procedure yielded 55 articles for our study. We repeat our search on the “Web of Science and Google Scholars” database to enhance the search results and check the referenced articles.

In this study, 55 articles are reviewed systematically and analyzed for research topics and other aspects, such as the methods, contexts, and theories used in these studies. Furthermore, this study analyzes closely related areas to provide unique research opportunities in the future. The study also discussed future direction opportunities and research questions by understanding the research findings climate changes and other affected sectors. The reviewed paper framework analysis process is outlined in Fig.  2 .

Framework of the analysis Process.

Natural disasters and climate change’s socio-economic consequences

Natural and environmental disasters can be highly variable from year to year; some years pass with very few deaths before a significant disaster event claims many lives (Symanski et al.  2021 ). Approximately 60,000 people globally died from natural disasters each year on average over the past decade (Ritchie and Roser  2014 ; Wiranata and Simbolon  2021 ). So, according to the report, around 0.1% of global deaths. Annual variability in the number and share of deaths from natural disasters in recent decades are shown in Fig.  3 . The number of fatalities can be meager—sometimes less than 10,000, and as few as 0.01% of all deaths. But shock events have a devastating impact: the 1983–1985 famine and drought in Ethiopia; the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami; Cyclone Nargis, which struck Myanmar in 2008; and the 2010 Port-au-Prince earthquake in Haiti and now recent example is COVID-19 pandemic (Erman et al.  2021 ). These events pushed global disaster deaths to over 200,000—more than 0.4% of deaths in these years. Low-frequency, high-impact events such as earthquakes and tsunamis are not preventable, but such high losses of human life are. Historical evidence shows that earlier disaster detection, more robust infrastructure, emergency preparedness, and response programmers have substantially reduced disaster deaths worldwide. Low-income is also the most vulnerable to disasters; improving living conditions, facilities, and response services in these areas would be critical in reducing natural disaster deaths in the coming decades.

Global deaths from natural disasters, 1978 to 2020.

Source EMDAT ( 2020 )

The interior regions of the continent are likely to be impacted by rising temperatures (Dimri et al.  2018 ; Goes et al.  2020 ; Mannig et al.  2018 ; Schuurmans  2021 ). Weather patterns change due to the shortage of natural resources (water), increase in glacier melting, and rising mercury are likely to cause extinction to many planted species (Gampe et al.  2016 ; Mihiretu et al.  2021 ; Shaffril et al.  2018 ).On the other hand, the coastal ecosystem is on the verge of devastation (Perera et al.  2018 ; Phillips  2018 ). The temperature rises, insect disease outbreaks, health-related problems, and seasonal and lifestyle changes are persistent, with a strong probability of these patterns continuing in the future (Abbass et al. 2021c ; Hussain et al.  2018 ). At the global level, a shortage of good infrastructure and insufficient adaptive capacity are hammering the most (IPCC  2013 ). In addition to the above concerns, a lack of environmental education and knowledge, outdated consumer behavior, a scarcity of incentives, a lack of legislation, and the government’s lack of commitment to climate change contribute to the general public’s concerns. By 2050, a 2 to 3% rise in mercury and a drastic shift in rainfall patterns may have serious consequences (Huang et al. 2022 ; Gorst et al.  2018 ). Natural and environmental calamities caused huge losses globally, such as decreased agriculture outputs, rehabilitation of the system, and rebuilding necessary technologies (Ali and Erenstein  2017 ; Ramankutty et al.  2018 ; Yu et al.  2021 ) (Table ​ (Table1). 1 ). Furthermore, in the last 3 or 4 years, the world has been plagued by smog-related eye and skin diseases, as well as a rise in road accidents due to poor visibility.

Main natural danger statistics for 1985–2020 at the global level

Source: EM-DAT ( 2020 )

Climate change and agriculture

Global agriculture is the ultimate sector responsible for 30–40% of all greenhouse emissions, which makes it a leading industry predominantly contributing to climate warming and significantly impacted by it (Grieg; Mishra et al.  2021 ; Ortiz et al.  2021 ; Thornton and Lipper  2014 ). Numerous agro-environmental and climatic factors that have a dominant influence on agriculture productivity (Pautasso et al.  2012 ) are significantly impacted in response to precipitation extremes including floods, forest fires, and droughts (Huang  2004 ). Besides, the immense dependency on exhaustible resources also fuels the fire and leads global agriculture to become prone to devastation. Godfray et al. ( 2010 ) mentioned that decline in agriculture challenges the farmer’s quality of life and thus a significant factor to poverty as the food and water supplies are critically impacted by CC (Ortiz et al.  2021 ; Rosenzweig et al.  2014 ). As an essential part of the economic systems, especially in developing countries, agricultural systems affect the overall economy and potentially the well-being of households (Schlenker and Roberts  2009 ). According to the report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, i.e., CH 4, CO 2 , and N 2 O, are increased in the air to extraordinary levels over the last few centuries (Usman and Makhdum 2021 ; Stocker et al.  2013 ). Climate change is the composite outcome of two different factors. The first is the natural causes, and the second is the anthropogenic actions (Karami 2012 ). It is also forecasted that the world may experience a typical rise in temperature stretching from 1 to 3.7 °C at the end of this century (Pachauri et al. 2014 ). The world’s crop production is also highly vulnerable to these global temperature-changing trends as raised temperatures will pose severe negative impacts on crop growth (Reidsma et al. 2009 ). Some of the recent modeling about the fate of global agriculture is briefly described below.

Decline in cereal productivity

Crop productivity will also be affected dramatically in the next few decades due to variations in integral abiotic factors such as temperature, solar radiation, precipitation, and CO 2 . These all factors are included in various regulatory instruments like progress and growth, weather-tempted changes, pest invasions (Cammell and Knight 1992 ), accompanying disease snags (Fand et al. 2012 ), water supplies (Panda et al. 2003 ), high prices of agro-products in world’s agriculture industry, and preeminent quantity of fertilizer consumption. Lobell and field ( 2007 ) claimed that from 1962 to 2002, wheat crop output had condensed significantly due to rising temperatures. Therefore, during 1980–2011, the common wheat productivity trends endorsed extreme temperature events confirmed by Gourdji et al. ( 2013 ) around South Asia, South America, and Central Asia. Various other studies (Asseng, Cao, Zhang, and Ludwig 2009 ; Asseng et al. 2013 ; García et al. 2015 ; Ortiz et al. 2021 ) also proved that wheat output is negatively affected by the rising temperatures and also caused adverse effects on biomass productivity (Calderini et al. 1999 ; Sadras and Slafer 2012 ). Hereafter, the rice crop is also influenced by the high temperatures at night. These difficulties will worsen because the temperature will be rising further in the future owing to CC (Tebaldi et al. 2006 ). Another research conducted in China revealed that a 4.6% of rice production per 1 °C has happened connected with the advancement in night temperatures (Tao et al. 2006 ). Moreover, the average night temperature growth also affected rice indicia cultivar’s output pragmatically during 25 years in the Philippines (Peng et al. 2004 ). It is anticipated that the increase in world average temperature will also cause a substantial reduction in yield (Hatfield et al. 2011 ; Lobell and Gourdji 2012 ). In the southern hemisphere, Parry et al. ( 2007 ) noted a rise of 1–4 °C in average daily temperatures at the end of spring season unti the middle of summers, and this raised temperature reduced crop output by cutting down the time length for phenophases eventually reduce the yield (Hatfield and Prueger 2015 ; R. Ortiz 2008 ). Also, world climate models have recommended that humid and subtropical regions expect to be plentiful prey to the upcoming heat strokes (Battisti and Naylor 2009 ). Grain production is the amalgamation of two constituents: the average weight and the grain output/m 2 , however, in crop production. Crop output is mainly accredited to the grain quantity (Araus et al. 2008 ; Gambín and Borrás 2010 ). In the times of grain set, yield resources are mainly strewn between hitherto defined components, i.e., grain usual weight and grain output, which presents a trade-off between them (Gambín and Borrás 2010 ) beside disparities in per grain integration (B. L. Gambín et al. 2006 ). In addition to this, the maize crop is also susceptible to raised temperatures, principally in the flowering stage (Edreira and Otegui 2013 ). In reality, the lower grain number is associated with insufficient acclimatization due to intense photosynthesis and higher respiration and the high-temperature effect on the reproduction phenomena (Edreira and Otegui 2013 ). During the flowering phase, maize visible to heat (30–36 °C) seemed less anthesis-silking intermissions (Edreira et al. 2011 ). Another research by Dupuis and Dumas ( 1990 ) proved that a drop in spikelet when directly visible to high temperatures above 35 °C in vitro pollination. Abnormalities in kernel number claimed by Vega et al. ( 2001 ) is related to conceded plant development during a flowering phase that is linked with the active ear growth phase and categorized as a critical phase for approximation of kernel number during silking (Otegui and Bonhomme 1998 ).

The retort of rice output to high temperature presents disparities in flowering patterns, and seed set lessens and lessens grain weight (Qasim et al. 2020 ; Qasim, Hammad, Maqsood, Tariq, & Chawla). During the daytime, heat directly impacts flowers which lessens the thesis period and quickens the earlier peak flowering (Tao et al. 2006 ). Antagonistic effect of higher daytime temperature d on pollen sprouting proposed seed set decay, whereas, seed set was lengthily reduced than could be explicated by pollen growing at high temperatures 40◦C (Matsui et al. 2001 ).

The decline in wheat output is linked with higher temperatures, confirmed in numerous studies (Semenov 2009 ; Stone and Nicolas 1994 ). High temperatures fast-track the arrangements of plant expansion (Blum et al. 2001 ), diminution photosynthetic process (Salvucci and Crafts‐Brandner 2004 ), and also considerably affect the reproductive operations (Farooq et al. 2011 ).

The destructive impacts of CC induced weather extremes to deteriorate the integrity of crops (Chaudhary et al. 2011 ), e.g., Spartan cold and extreme fog cause falling and discoloration of betel leaves (Rosenzweig et al. 2001 ), giving them a somehow reddish appearance, squeezing of lemon leaves (Pautasso et al. 2012 ), as well as root rot of pineapple, have reported (Vedwan and Rhoades 2001 ). Henceforth, in tackling the disruptive effects of CC, several short-term and long-term management approaches are the crucial need of time (Fig.  4 ). Moreover, various studies (Chaudhary et al. 2011 ; Patz et al. 2005 ; Pautasso et al. 2012 ) have demonstrated adapting trends such as ameliorating crop diversity can yield better adaptability towards CC.

Schematic description of potential impacts of climate change on the agriculture sector and the appropriate mitigation and adaptation measures to overcome its impact.

Climate change impacts on biodiversity

Global biodiversity is among the severe victims of CC because it is the fastest emerging cause of species loss. Studies demonstrated that the massive scale species dynamics are considerably associated with diverse climatic events (Abraham and Chain 1988 ; Manes et al. 2021 ; A. M. D. Ortiz et al. 2021 ). Both the pace and magnitude of CC are altering the compatible habitat ranges for living entities of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial regions. Alterations in general climate regimes influence the integrity of ecosystems in numerous ways, such as variation in the relative abundance of species, range shifts, changes in activity timing, and microhabitat use (Bates et al. 2014 ). The geographic distribution of any species often depends upon its ability to tolerate environmental stresses, biological interactions, and dispersal constraints. Hence, instead of the CC, the local species must only accept, adapt, move, or face extinction (Berg et al. 2010 ). So, the best performer species have a better survival capacity for adjusting to new ecosystems or a decreased perseverance to survive where they are already situated (Bates et al. 2014 ). An important aspect here is the inadequate habitat connectivity and access to microclimates, also crucial in raising the exposure to climate warming and extreme heatwave episodes. For example, the carbon sequestration rates are undergoing fluctuations due to climate-driven expansion in the range of global mangroves (Cavanaugh et al. 2014 ).

Similarly, the loss of kelp-forest ecosystems in various regions and its occupancy by the seaweed turfs has set the track for elevated herbivory by the high influx of tropical fish populations. Not only this, the increased water temperatures have exacerbated the conditions far away from the physiological tolerance level of the kelp communities (Vergés et al. 2016 ; Wernberg et al. 2016 ). Another pertinent danger is the devastation of keystone species, which even has more pervasive effects on the entire communities in that habitat (Zarnetske et al. 2012 ). It is particularly important as CC does not specify specific populations or communities. Eventually, this CC-induced redistribution of species may deteriorate carbon storage and the net ecosystem productivity (Weed et al. 2013 ). Among the typical disruptions, the prominent ones include impacts on marine and terrestrial productivity, marine community assembly, and the extended invasion of toxic cyanobacteria bloom (Fossheim et al. 2015 ).

The CC-impacted species extinction is widely reported in the literature (Beesley et al. 2019 ; Urban 2015 ), and the predictions of demise until the twenty-first century are dreadful (Abbass et al. 2019 ; Pereira et al. 2013 ). In a few cases, northward shifting of species may not be formidable as it allows mountain-dwelling species to find optimum climates. However, the migrant species may be trapped in isolated and incompatible habitats due to losing topography and range (Dullinger et al. 2012 ). For example, a study indicated that the American pika has been extirpated or intensely diminished in some regions, primarily attributed to the CC-impacted extinction or at least local extirpation (Stewart et al. 2015 ). Besides, the anticipation of persistent responses to the impacts of CC often requires data records of several decades to rigorously analyze the critical pre and post CC patterns at species and ecosystem levels (Manes et al. 2021 ; Testa et al. 2018 ).

Nonetheless, the availability of such long-term data records is rare; hence, attempts are needed to focus on these profound aspects. Biodiversity is also vulnerable to the other associated impacts of CC, such as rising temperatures, droughts, and certain invasive pest species. For instance, a study revealed the changes in the composition of plankton communities attributed to rising temperatures. Henceforth, alterations in such aquatic producer communities, i.e., diatoms and calcareous plants, can ultimately lead to variation in the recycling of biological carbon. Moreover, such changes are characterized as a potential contributor to CO 2 differences between the Pleistocene glacial and interglacial periods (Kohfeld et al. 2005 ).

Climate change implications on human health

It is an understood corporality that human health is a significant victim of CC (Costello et al. 2009 ). According to the WHO, CC might be responsible for 250,000 additional deaths per year during 2030–2050 (Watts et al. 2015 ). These deaths are attributed to extreme weather-induced mortality and morbidity and the global expansion of vector-borne diseases (Lemery et al. 2021; Yang and Usman 2021 ; Meierrieks 2021 ; UNEP 2017 ). Here, some of the emerging health issues pertinent to this global problem are briefly described.

Climate change and antimicrobial resistance with corresponding economic costs

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an up-surging complex global health challenge (Garner et al. 2019 ; Lemery et al. 2021 ). Health professionals across the globe are extremely worried due to this phenomenon that has critical potential to reverse almost all the progress that has been achieved so far in the health discipline (Gosling and Arnell 2016 ). A massive amount of antibiotics is produced by many pharmaceutical industries worldwide, and the pathogenic microorganisms are gradually developing resistance to them, which can be comprehended how strongly this aspect can shake the foundations of national and global economies (UNEP 2017 ). This statement is supported by the fact that AMR is not developing in a particular region or country. Instead, it is flourishing in every continent of the world (WHO 2018 ). This plague is heavily pushing humanity to the post-antibiotic era, in which currently antibiotic-susceptible pathogens will once again lead to certain endemics and pandemics after being resistant(WHO 2018 ). Undesirably, if this statement would become a factuality, there might emerge certain risks in undertaking sophisticated interventions such as chemotherapy, joint replacement cases, and organ transplantation (Su et al. 2018 ). Presently, the amplification of drug resistance cases has made common illnesses like pneumonia, post-surgical infections, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, etc., too difficult and costly to be treated or cure well (WHO 2018 ). From a simple example, it can be assumed how easily antibiotic-resistant strains can be transmitted from one person to another and ultimately travel across the boundaries (Berendonk et al. 2015 ). Talking about the second- and third-generation classes of antibiotics, e.g., most renowned generations of cephalosporin antibiotics that are more expensive, broad-spectrum, more toxic, and usually require more extended periods whenever prescribed to patients (Lemery et al. 2021 ; Pärnänen et al. 2019 ). This scenario has also revealed that the abundance of resistant strains of pathogens was also higher in the Southern part (WHO 2018 ). As southern parts are generally warmer than their counterparts, it is evident from this example how CC-induced global warming can augment the spread of antibiotic-resistant strains within the biosphere, eventually putting additional economic burden in the face of developing new and costlier antibiotics. The ARG exchange to susceptible bacteria through one of the potential mechanisms, transformation, transduction, and conjugation; Selection pressure can be caused by certain antibiotics, metals or pesticides, etc., as shown in Fig.  5 .

A typical interaction between the susceptible and resistant strains.

Source: Elsayed et al. ( 2021 ); Karkman et al. ( 2018 )

Certain studies highlighted that conventional urban wastewater treatment plants are typical hotspots where most bacterial strains exchange genetic material through horizontal gene transfer (Fig.  5 ). Although at present, the extent of risks associated with the antibiotic resistance found in wastewater is complicated; environmental scientists and engineers have particular concerns about the potential impacts of these antibiotic resistance genes on human health (Ashbolt 2015 ). At most undesirable and worst case, these antibiotic-resistant genes containing bacteria can make their way to enter into the environment (Pruden et al. 2013 ), irrigation water used for crops and public water supplies and ultimately become a part of food chains and food webs (Ma et al. 2019 ; D. Wu et al. 2019 ). This problem has been reported manifold in several countries (Hendriksen et al. 2019 ), where wastewater as a means of irrigated water is quite common.

Climate change and vector borne-diseases

Temperature is a fundamental factor for the sustenance of living entities regardless of an ecosystem. So, a specific living being, especially a pathogen, requires a sophisticated temperature range to exist on earth. The second essential component of CC is precipitation, which also impacts numerous infectious agents’ transport and dissemination patterns. Global rising temperature is a significant cause of many species extinction. On the one hand, this changing environmental temperature may be causing species extinction, and on the other, this warming temperature might favor the thriving of some new organisms. Here, it was evident that some pathogens may also upraise once non-evident or reported (Patz et al. 2000 ). This concept can be exemplified through certain pathogenic strains of microorganisms that how the likelihood of various diseases increases in response to climate warming-induced environmental changes (Table ​ (Table2 2 ).

Examples of how various environmental changes affect various infectious diseases in humans

Source: Aron and Patz ( 2001 )

A recent example is an outburst of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Republic of China, causing pneumonia and severe acute respiratory complications (Cui et al. 2021 ; Song et al. 2021 ). The large family of viruses is harbored in numerous animals, bats, and snakes in particular (livescience.com) with the subsequent transfer into human beings. Hence, it is worth noting that the thriving of numerous vectors involved in spreading various diseases is influenced by Climate change (Ogden 2018 ; Santos et al. 2021 ).

Psychological impacts of climate change

Climate change (CC) is responsible for the rapid dissemination and exaggeration of certain epidemics and pandemics. In addition to the vast apparent impacts of climate change on health, forestry, agriculture, etc., it may also have psychological implications on vulnerable societies. It can be exemplified through the recent outburst of (COVID-19) in various countries around the world (Pal 2021 ). Besides, the victims of this viral infection have made healthy beings scarier and terrified. In the wake of such epidemics, people with common colds or fever are also frightened and must pass specific regulatory protocols. Living in such situations continuously terrifies the public and makes the stress familiar, which eventually makes them psychologically weak (npr.org).

CC boosts the extent of anxiety, distress, and other issues in public, pushing them to develop various mental-related problems. Besides, frequent exposure to extreme climatic catastrophes such as geological disasters also imprints post-traumatic disorder, and their ubiquitous occurrence paves the way to developing chronic psychological dysfunction. Moreover, repetitive listening from media also causes an increase in the person’s stress level (Association 2020 ). Similarly, communities living in flood-prone areas constantly live in extreme fear of drowning and die by floods. In addition to human lives, the flood-induced destruction of physical infrastructure is a specific reason for putting pressure on these communities (Ogden 2018 ). For instance, Ogden ( 2018 ) comprehensively denoted that Katrina’s Hurricane augmented the mental health issues in the victim communities.

Climate change impacts on the forestry sector

Forests are the global regulators of the world’s climate (FAO 2018 ) and have an indispensable role in regulating global carbon and nitrogen cycles (Rehman et al. 2021 ; Reichstein and Carvalhais 2019 ). Hence, disturbances in forest ecology affect the micro and macro-climates (Ellison et al. 2017 ). Climate warming, in return, has profound impacts on the growth and productivity of transboundary forests by influencing the temperature and precipitation patterns, etc. As CC induces specific changes in the typical structure and functions of ecosystems (Zhang et al. 2017 ) as well impacts forest health, climate change also has several devastating consequences such as forest fires, droughts, pest outbreaks (EPA 2018 ), and last but not the least is the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities. The rising frequency and intensity of another CC product, i.e., droughts, pose plenty of challenges to the well-being of global forests (Diffenbaugh et al. 2017 ), which is further projected to increase soon (Hartmann et al. 2018 ; Lehner et al. 2017 ; Rehman et al. 2021 ). Hence, CC induces storms, with more significant impacts also put extra pressure on the survival of the global forests (Martínez-Alvarado et al. 2018 ), significantly since their influences are augmented during higher winter precipitations with corresponding wetter soils causing weak root anchorage of trees (Brázdil et al. 2018 ). Surging temperature regimes causes alterations in usual precipitation patterns, which is a significant hurdle for the survival of temperate forests (Allen et al. 2010 ; Flannigan et al. 2013 ), letting them encounter severe stress and disturbances which adversely affects the local tree species (Hubbart et al. 2016 ; Millar and Stephenson 2015 ; Rehman et al. 2021 ).

Climate change impacts on forest-dependent communities

Forests are the fundamental livelihood resource for about 1.6 billion people worldwide; out of them, 350 million are distinguished with relatively higher reliance (Bank 2008 ). Agro-forestry-dependent communities comprise 1.2 billion, and 60 million indigenous people solely rely on forests and their products to sustain their lives (Sunderlin et al. 2005 ). For example, in the entire African continent, more than 2/3rd of inhabitants depend on forest resources and woodlands for their alimonies, e.g., food, fuelwood and grazing (Wasiq and Ahmad 2004 ). The livings of these people are more intensely affected by the climatic disruptions making their lives harder (Brown et al. 2014 ). On the one hand, forest communities are incredibly vulnerable to CC due to their livelihoods, cultural and spiritual ties as well as socio-ecological connections, and on the other, they are not familiar with the term “climate change.” (Rahman and Alam 2016 ). Among the destructive impacts of temperature and rainfall, disruption of the agroforestry crops with resultant downscale growth and yield (Macchi et al. 2008 ). Cruz ( 2015 ) ascribed that forest-dependent smallholder farmers in the Philippines face the enigma of delayed fruiting, more severe damages by insect and pest incidences due to unfavorable temperature regimes, and changed rainfall patterns.

Among these series of challenges to forest communities, their well-being is also distinctly vulnerable to CC. Though the detailed climate change impacts on human health have been comprehensively mentioned in the previous section, some studies have listed a few more devastating effects on the prosperity of forest-dependent communities. For instance, the Himalayan people have been experiencing frequent skin-borne diseases such as malaria and other skin diseases due to increasing mosquitoes, wild boar as well, and new wasps species, particularly in higher altitudes that were almost non-existent before last 5–10 years (Xu et al. 2008 ). Similarly, people living at high altitudes in Bangladesh have experienced frequent mosquito-borne calamities (Fardous; Sharma 2012 ). In addition, the pace of other waterborne diseases such as infectious diarrhea, cholera, pathogenic induced abdominal complications and dengue has also been boosted in other distinguished regions of Bangladesh (Cell 2009 ; Gunter et al. 2008 ).

Pest outbreak

Upscaling hotter climate may positively affect the mobile organisms with shorter generation times because they can scurry from harsh conditions than the immobile species (Fettig et al. 2013 ; Schoene and Bernier 2012 ) and are also relatively more capable of adapting to new environments (Jactel et al. 2019 ). It reveals that insects adapt quickly to global warming due to their mobility advantages. Due to past outbreaks, the trees (forests) are relatively more susceptible victims (Kurz et al. 2008 ). Before CC, the influence of factors mentioned earlier, i.e., droughts and storms, was existent and made the forests susceptible to insect pest interventions; however, the global forests remain steadfast, assiduous, and green (Jactel et al. 2019 ). The typical reasons could be the insect herbivores were regulated by several tree defenses and pressures of predation (Wilkinson and Sherratt 2016 ). As climate greatly influences these phenomena, the global forests cannot be so sedulous against such challenges (Jactel et al. 2019 ). Table ​ Table3 3 demonstrates some of the particular considerations with practical examples that are essential while mitigating the impacts of CC in the forestry sector.

Essential considerations while mitigating the climate change impacts on the forestry sector

Source : Fischer ( 2019 )

Climate change impacts on tourism

Tourism is a commercial activity that has roots in multi-dimensions and an efficient tool with adequate job generation potential, revenue creation, earning of spectacular foreign exchange, enhancement in cross-cultural promulgation and cooperation, a business tool for entrepreneurs and eventually for the country’s national development (Arshad et al. 2018 ; Scott 2021 ). Among a plethora of other disciplines, the tourism industry is also a distinct victim of climate warming (Gössling et al. 2012 ; Hall et al. 2015 ) as the climate is among the essential resources that enable tourism in particular regions as most preferred locations. Different places at different times of the year attract tourists both within and across the countries depending upon the feasibility and compatibility of particular weather patterns. Hence, the massive variations in these weather patterns resulting from CC will eventually lead to monumental challenges to the local economy in that specific area’s particular and national economy (Bujosa et al. 2015 ). For instance, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report demonstrated that the global tourism industry had faced a considerable decline in the duration of ski season, including the loss of some ski areas and the dramatic shifts in tourist destinations’ climate warming.

Furthermore, different studies (Neuvonen et al. 2015 ; Scott et al. 2004 ) indicated that various currently perfect tourist spots, e.g., coastal areas, splendid islands, and ski resorts, will suffer consequences of CC. It is also worth noting that the quality and potential of administrative management potential to cope with the influence of CC on the tourism industry is of crucial significance, which renders specific strengths of resiliency to numerous destinations to withstand against it (Füssel and Hildén 2014 ). Similarly, in the partial or complete absence of adequate socio-economic and socio-political capital, the high-demanding tourist sites scurry towards the verge of vulnerability. The susceptibility of tourism is based on different components such as the extent of exposure, sensitivity, life-supporting sectors, and capacity assessment factors (Füssel and Hildén 2014 ). It is obvious corporality that sectors such as health, food, ecosystems, human habitat, infrastructure, water availability, and the accessibility of a particular region are prone to CC. Henceforth, the sensitivity of these critical sectors to CC and, in return, the adaptive measures are a hallmark in determining the composite vulnerability of climate warming (Ionescu et al. 2009 ).

Moreover, the dependence on imported food items, poor hygienic conditions, and inadequate health professionals are dominant aspects affecting the local terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity. Meanwhile, the greater dependency on ecosystem services and its products also makes a destination more fragile to become a prey of CC (Rizvi et al. 2015 ). Some significant non-climatic factors are important indicators of a particular ecosystem’s typical health and functioning, e.g., resource richness and abundance portray the picture of ecosystem stability. Similarly, the species abundance is also a productive tool that ensures that the ecosystem has a higher buffering capacity, which is terrific in terms of resiliency (Roscher et al. 2013 ).

Climate change impacts on the economic sector

Climate plays a significant role in overall productivity and economic growth. Due to its increasingly global existence and its effect on economic growth, CC has become one of the major concerns of both local and international environmental policymakers (Ferreira et al. 2020 ; Gleditsch 2021 ; Abbass et al. 2021b ; Lamperti et al. 2021 ). The adverse effects of CC on the overall productivity factor of the agricultural sector are therefore significant for understanding the creation of local adaptation policies and the composition of productive climate policy contracts. Previous studies on CC in the world have already forecasted its effects on the agricultural sector. Researchers have found that global CC will impact the agricultural sector in different world regions. The study of the impacts of CC on various agrarian activities in other demographic areas and the development of relative strategies to respond to effects has become a focal point for researchers (Chandioet al. 2020 ; Gleditsch 2021 ; Mosavi et al. 2020 ).

With the rapid growth of global warming since the 1980s, the temperature has started increasing globally, which resulted in the incredible transformation of rain and evaporation in the countries. The agricultural development of many countries has been reliant, delicate, and susceptible to CC for a long time, and it is on the development of agriculture total factor productivity (ATFP) influence different crops and yields of farmers (Alhassan 2021 ; Wu  2020 ).

Food security and natural disasters are increasing rapidly in the world. Several major climatic/natural disasters have impacted local crop production in the countries concerned. The effects of these natural disasters have been poorly controlled by the development of the economies and populations and may affect human life as well. One example is China, which is among the world’s most affected countries, vulnerable to natural disasters due to its large population, harsh environmental conditions, rapid CC, low environmental stability, and disaster power. According to the January 2016 statistical survey, China experienced an economic loss of 298.3 billion Yuan, and about 137 million Chinese people were severely affected by various natural disasters (Xie et al. 2018 ).

Mitigation and adaptation strategies of climate changes

Adaptation and mitigation are the crucial factors to address the response to CC (Jahanzad et al. 2020 ). Researchers define mitigation on climate changes, and on the other hand, adaptation directly impacts climate changes like floods. To some extent, mitigation reduces or moderates greenhouse gas emission, and it becomes a critical issue both economically and environmentally (Botzen et al. 2021 ; Jahanzad et al. 2020 ; Kongsager 2018 ; Smit et al. 2000 ; Vale et al. 2021 ; Usman et al. 2021 ; Verheyen 2005 ).

Researchers have deep concern about the adaptation and mitigation methodologies in sectoral and geographical contexts. Agriculture, industry, forestry, transport, and land use are the main sectors to adapt and mitigate policies(Kärkkäinen et al. 2020 ; Waheed et al. 2021 ). Adaptation and mitigation require particular concern both at the national and international levels. The world has faced a significant problem of climate change in the last decades, and adaptation to these effects is compulsory for economic and social development. To adapt and mitigate against CC, one should develop policies and strategies at the international level (Hussain et al. 2020 ). Figure  6 depicts the list of current studies on sectoral impacts of CC with adaptation and mitigation measures globally.

Sectoral impacts of climate change with adaptation and mitigation measures.

Conclusion and future perspectives

Specific socio-agricultural, socio-economic, and physical systems are the cornerstone of psychological well-being, and the alteration in these systems by CC will have disastrous impacts. Climate variability, alongside other anthropogenic and natural stressors, influences human and environmental health sustainability. Food security is another concerning scenario that may lead to compromised food quality, higher food prices, and inadequate food distribution systems. Global forests are challenged by different climatic factors such as storms, droughts, flash floods, and intense precipitation. On the other hand, their anthropogenic wiping is aggrandizing their existence. Undoubtedly, the vulnerability scale of the world’s regions differs; however, appropriate mitigation and adaptation measures can aid the decision-making bodies in developing effective policies to tackle its impacts. Presently, modern life on earth has tailored to consistent climatic patterns, and accordingly, adapting to such considerable variations is of paramount importance. Because the faster changes in climate will make it harder to survive and adjust, this globally-raising enigma calls for immediate attention at every scale ranging from elementary community level to international level. Still, much effort, research, and dedication are required, which is the most critical time. Some policy implications can help us to mitigate the consequences of climate change, especially the most affected sectors like the agriculture sector;

Warming might lengthen the season in frost-prone growing regions (temperate and arctic zones), allowing for longer-maturing seasonal cultivars with better yields (Pfadenhauer 2020 ; Bonacci 2019 ). Extending the planting season may allow additional crops each year; when warming leads to frequent warmer months highs over critical thresholds, a split season with a brief summer fallow may be conceivable for short-period crops such as wheat barley, cereals, and many other vegetable crops. The capacity to prolong the planting season in tropical and subtropical places where the harvest season is constrained by precipitation or agriculture farming occurs after the year may be more limited and dependent on how precipitation patterns vary (Wu et al. 2017 ).

The genetic component is comprehensive for many yields, but it is restricted like kiwi fruit for a few. Ali et al. ( 2017 ) investigated how new crops will react to climatic changes (also stated in Mall et al. 2017 ). Hot temperature, drought, insect resistance; salt tolerance; and overall crop production and product quality increases would all be advantageous (Akkari 2016 ). Genetic mapping and engineering can introduce a greater spectrum of features. The adoption of genetically altered cultivars has been slowed, particularly in the early forecasts owing to the complexity in ensuring features are expediently expressed throughout the entire plant, customer concerns, economic profitability, and regulatory impediments (Wirehn 2018 ; Davidson et al. 2016 ).

To get the full benefit of the CO 2 would certainly require additional nitrogen and other fertilizers. Nitrogen not consumed by the plants may be excreted into groundwater, discharged into water surface, or emitted from the land, soil nitrous oxide when large doses of fertilizer are sprayed. Increased nitrogen levels in groundwater sources have been related to human chronic illnesses and impact marine ecosystems. Cultivation, grain drying, and other field activities have all been examined in depth in the studies (Barua et al. 2018 ).

• The technological and socio-economic adaptation

The policy consequence of the causative conclusion is that as a source of alternative energy, biofuel production is one of the routes that explain oil price volatility separate from international macroeconomic factors. Even though biofuel production has just begun in a few sample nations, there is still a tremendous worldwide need for feedstock to satisfy industrial expansion in China and the USA, which explains the food price relationship to the global oil price. Essentially, oil-exporting countries may create incentives in their economies to increase food production. It may accomplish by giving farmers financing, seedlings, fertilizers, and farming equipment. Because of the declining global oil price and, as a result, their earnings from oil export, oil-producing nations may be unable to subsidize food imports even in the near term. As a result, these countries can boost the agricultural value chain for export. It may be accomplished through R&D and adding value to their food products to increase income by correcting exchange rate misalignment and adverse trade terms. These nations may also diversify their economies away from oil, as dependence on oil exports alone is no longer economically viable given the extreme volatility of global oil prices. Finally, resource-rich and oil-exporting countries can convert to non-food renewable energy sources such as solar, hydro, coal, wind, wave, and tidal energy. By doing so, both world food and oil supplies would be maintained rather than harmed.

IRENA’s modeling work shows that, if a comprehensive policy framework is in place, efforts toward decarbonizing the energy future will benefit economic activity, jobs (outweighing losses in the fossil fuel industry), and welfare. Countries with weak domestic supply chains and a large reliance on fossil fuel income, in particular, must undertake structural reforms to capitalize on the opportunities inherent in the energy transition. Governments continue to give major policy assistance to extract fossil fuels, including tax incentives, financing, direct infrastructure expenditures, exemptions from environmental regulations, and other measures. The majority of major oil and gas producing countries intend to increase output. Some countries intend to cut coal output, while others plan to maintain or expand it. While some nations are beginning to explore and execute policies aimed at a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuel production, these efforts have yet to impact major producing countries’ plans and goals. Verifiable and comparable data on fossil fuel output and assistance from governments and industries are critical to closing the production gap. Governments could increase openness by declaring their production intentions in their climate obligations under the Paris Agreement.

It is firmly believed that achieving the Paris Agreement commitments is doubtlful without undergoing renewable energy transition across the globe (Murshed 2020 ; Zhao et al. 2022 ). Policy instruments play the most important role in determining the degree of investment in renewable energy technology. This study examines the efficacy of various policy strategies in the renewable energy industry of multiple nations. Although its impact is more visible in established renewable energy markets, a renewable portfolio standard is also a useful policy instrument. The cost of producing renewable energy is still greater than other traditional energy sources. Furthermore, government incentives in the R&D sector can foster innovation in this field, resulting in cost reductions in the renewable energy industry. These nations may export their technologies and share their policy experiences by forming networks among their renewable energy-focused organizations. All policy measures aim to reduce production costs while increasing the proportion of renewables to a country’s energy system. Meanwhile, long-term contracts with renewable energy providers, government commitment and control, and the establishment of long-term goals can assist developing nations in deploying renewable energy technology in their energy sector.

Author contribution

KA: Writing the original manuscript, data collection, data analysis, Study design, Formal analysis, Visualization, Revised draft, Writing-review, and editing. MZQ: Writing the original manuscript, data collection, data analysis, Writing-review, and editing. HS: Contribution to the contextualization of the theme, Conceptualization, Validation, Supervision, literature review, Revised drapt, and writing review and editing. MM: Writing review and editing, compiling the literature review, language editing. HM: Writing review and editing, compiling the literature review, language editing. IY: Contribution to the contextualization of the theme, literature review, and writing review and editing.

Availability of data and material

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Contributor Information

Kashif Abbass, Email: nc.ude.tsujn@ssabbafihsak .

Muhammad Zeeshan Qasim, Email: moc.kooltuo@888misaqnahseez .

Huaming Song, Email: nc.ude.tsujn@gnimauh .

Muntasir Murshed, Email: [email protected] .

Haider Mahmood, Email: moc.liamtoh@doomhamrediah .

Ijaz Younis, Email: nc.ude.tsujn@sinuoyzaji .

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MIT Climate Project

The climate project at mit.

Welcome to the Climate Project at MIT!

The Climate Project at MIT is a new, whole-of-MIT mobilization to respond to climate change. The goal is for MIT to become, within the next decade, one of the world’s most prolific and collaborative sources of technological, behavioral, and policy solutions for the global climate challenge. 

The Climate Missions are MIT-wide problem-solving communities. Each mission will address a broad domain where solutions are required for effective climate response and where a critical mass of excellent research capabilities exists at MIT.

Climate HQ is an administrative, operational, and coordinating arm for the Climate Project, and provides shared services to the Climate Missions to help them achieve practical impact at scale.

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Climate Change Solutions Fund awards recognize nine projects around the world

Harvard faculty and students are training their interests and expertise on what is literally the world’s hottest hot-button issue: global warming. As a result, nine research teams will share $1 million in the seventh round of the Climate Change Solutions Fund (CCSF) awards for proposals that create critical knowledge, propel novel ideas, and lead toward solutions that can be applied at Harvard and across the globe.

“Pursuing a more sustainable future means advancing on several fronts to address the tremendous challenges posed by climate change,” Harvard President Larry Bacow said. “The projects being funded this year draw on strengths from across the University and among a wide swath of researchers and scholars. I look forward to seeing where their efforts lead us in the years ahead.”

Vice Provost for Research Richard McCullough , whose office administers the fund, said, “The variety of research in which our faculty and students engage — projects in government, engineering, chemistry, biology, landscape architecture, and more — reflects Harvard’s strong commitment to addressing the full scope of impacts from climate change. With support from the University and generosity from alumni and others, CCSF is able to fund projects that are paramount to solving global climate and health challenges.”

The fund was established in 2014 by President Emerita Drew Faust to support and speed up Harvard’s transition from nonrenewable to sustainable sources.

This year’s projects range from studying the implications of geographic and administrative boundaries on groundwater extraction in India, to identifying sources of methane in China, to examining natural structures with useful properties at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology.

The fund review committee selects research projects each year from the University’s 12 Schools, giving special consideration to those that use the campus as a living laboratory to study global sustainability challenges that align with the priorities in the Harvard’s Sustainability Plan and the climate goals defined by the Presidential Committee on Sustainability and the Office for Sustainability . As of 2021, nearly 60 CCSF projects have received more than $7 million. The fund is supported by the President’s office and donations from alumni and others.

This year’s winning projects are summarized below. Applications for next year’s awards will open in July 2021. Interested applicants should contact [email protected] .

A Study of the Implications of Geographic and Administrative Boundaries on Groundwater Extraction in India

Shweta Bhogale , Ph.D. Candidate, Public Policy, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Agriculture’s increased dependence on groundwater at a time of worsening agroclimatic conditions is bringing the planet closer to a major water crisis, with potentially enormous consequences for both food production and the livelihoods of rural populations — a majority of the workforce in many developing countries. This project will study the effects of competition for groundwater and irrigation practices, crop choices, agricultural livelihoods, and long-term water levels in India. The project leaders hypothesize that water sources that are shared between districts see greater levels of water extraction, and aim to provide evidence for the effectiveness of different institutional and policy mechanisms that dampen adverse effects of competition for water. In particular, they are interested in whether governance of groundwater resources in their entirety, instead of as segmented units, could lead to more sustainable extraction practices.

Designing a Solid-State Battery Device for Ultrahigh Performance Electric Vehicle Applications

Xin Li , Associate Professor of Materials Science, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

After developing a solid-state battery with ultra-long cycling and ultra-high current density, with the

potential for high-performance electric vehicle applications, Li hopes to demonstrate that the same design principle can work just as efficiently in a more practical, pouch-cell prototype. This larger format will further demonstrate the innovative battery design and provide critical data that will impact future research and industrial applications. The ultimate goal is to design a battery that outperforms internal combustion engines so electrical vehicles accelerate the transition from fossil-fuel-based energy to renewable energy.

Kaitlyn Loftus (left) and Robin Wordsworth.

A Back-to-Basics Approach to Improve Precipitation Physics in Global Climate Models

Kaitlyn Loftus , Ph.D. Candidate in Earth and Planetary Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, with co-investigator Robin Wordsworth , Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

In the model worlds used to predict and prepare for climate change, it is almost always lightly drizzling — unlike on the real Earth. The most complex climate models cannot even reproduce observed precipitation characteristics accurately, let alone robustly predict future characteristics. This failure is significant, because precipitation is directly associated with high-risk impacts such as floods, droughts, and lower regional crop yields, and indirectly associated with uncertainties in future temperature change. This project proposes a novel approach to representing precipitation in climate models by building a model that better reproduces present-day precipitation.

Exploring Ion Mobility in Metastable Oxide Thin Films for Energy Applications

Johanna Nordlander , Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Advancements in clean, sustainable energy technology are critical to mitigating increasing global power usage. A promising technology with a variety of potential applications for green electricity are solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), which have superior conversion efficiency and pollution-free exhaust. To promote this technology, new oxide material classes that allow oxygen transport closer to room temperature are needed. This project hopes to use state-of-the-art thin-film synthesis techniques to engineer oxides that will let the team construct lower-temperature conductors.

Prospecting for Functional Materials in the Entomology Collections of the Museum of Comparative Zoology

Naomi Pierce , Sidney A. and John H. Hessel Professor of Biology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Curator of Lepidoptera in the Museum of Comparative Zoology; Senior Fellow of the Society of Fellows

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Martha Schwartz (left) and Edith Katz.

Linear Urban Forest

Martha Schwartz , Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design, with co-investigator Edith Katz, Teaching Associate, Harvard Graduate School of Design

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As part of the project, the team plans to measure the reduction in heat and air pollution, absorption and control of storm water, reduction of energy use, increase of urban biodiversity, and CO₂ mitigation. This study will open up new ways of viewing a city’s public landscapes not just as amenities, but as spaces to regenerate natural systems as pathways to more climate equity and a more integrated balance with nature.

Shaojie Song (left) and J. William Munger.

Courtesy photo (left); photo by Ian MacLellan

Using In Situ Observations to Identify Methane Sources in the Beijing Region

Shaojie Song , Research Associate, Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy, and Environment, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, with co-investigator J. William Munger , Senior Research Fellow in Atmospheric Chemistry, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Human activities concentrated in cities are dominant sources of carbon dioxide and methane, the greenhouse gases that affect climate. Urban areas account for 70 percent of Earth’s greenhouse gases, but knowing exactly where emissions come from is essential for developing effective and affordable management plans. This project will use atmospheric measurements to assess methane sources in the Beijing region, where government policy mandated a shift from coal to natural gas in district heating plants and building boilers. The goal of the project, a collaboration of the SEAS-based Harvard-China Project and the Tsinghua University School of Environment, is to determine whether the coal-to-gas conversion has had its intended effect on greenhouse gas reduction or inadvertently created a new greenhouse gas source. The work will prepare the team for future research on poorly understood dimensions of the second-most-powerful greenhouse gas emissions in China and identifying effective and affordable mitigation solutions.

Using Volcanic Vents to Combat Climate Change

Benton Taylor , Assistant Professor, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Anthropogenic increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) are currently the strongest drivers of global climate change. This additional CO₂ makes plant photosynthesis more efficient and plants may naturally mitigate global warming by growing larger and capturing some portion of CO₂. Tropical forests have an immense potential to naturally mitigate climate change by increasing plant carbon capture in response to rising CO₂, but logistical constraints prevent large-scale CO₂-enrichment experiments to test this in the tropics. Volcanic vents that naturally release CO₂ into the surrounding forests provide an innovative, cost-effective, immediate way to assess the forests’ responses to an increasingly CO₂-enriched world. The project plans to establish vegetation census plots at forests in both elevated CO₂ conditions (simulating future atmospheric conditions) and ambient CO₂ (current condition) sites to determine their growth and carbon-capturing responses to long-term CO₂ enrichment. Understanding these responses will 1) dramatically improve our ability to predict global climate change in Earth system models, 2) provide insight into the future dynamics of the tropical forest biome, and 3) identify direct-management strategies to maximize their future carbon-capturing potential.

Exploring Magnetic Topological Insulators for Ultra-Low-Energy Information Technologies

Christian Tzschaschel , Postdoctoral Researcher, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Rapid advances in information technology are accompanied by a dramatic increase in energy costs from data storage, transfer, and processing. To keep energy consumption connected to the increasing amount of data at a sustainable level requires a breakthrough in technology. This project aims to reduce the ecological footprint of information technology by finding new materials to efficiently control magnetism. Specifically, the project will explore the new class of magnetic topological insulators, in which the electrical control of magnetism is predicted to be particularly efficient. Combining electrical transport measurements and nonlinear optical techniques not only will allow for the development of a fundamental understanding of the magnetoelectric coupling in these materials, it will also demonstrate their feasibility for ultra-low energy applications.

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Trends in climate adaptation solutions for mountain regions

• Original Article
• Open access
• Published: 10 September 2024
• Volume 29 , article number  74 , ( 2024 )

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• Veruska Muccione   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9773-3125 1 , 2 , 3 ,
• Julia Aguilera Rodriguez 2 ,
• Anna Scolobig 2 , 4 ,
• Rosie Witton 5 ,
• Johanna Zwahlen 6 ,
• Alex Mackey 6 ,
• Julia Barrott 5 ,
• Otto Simonett 6 ,
• Markus Stoffel 2 &
• Simon K. Allen 2 , 3  

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This study addresses the critical need for documented adaptation progress in mountain regions by reviewing recently implemented or ongoing adaptation solutions collected from the Adaptation at Altitude Solutions Portal (A@A Solution Portal). Using a data driven approach, the research explores the characteristics, feasibility, and transformative potential of these solutions. Findings reveal a predominant focus on addressing droughts and floods, aligning with the IPCC’s emphasis on water-related impacts in mountains. Notably, watershed management practices emerge as popular solutions, showcasing their capacity to address multiple concerns beyond climate impacts. Education and awareness, along with land use practices, dominate the types of solutions, reflecting their positive impact on project acceptability and low associated risk of maladaptation. Agricultural land and forests are the main ecosystems where solutions are reported, with an evident association with education and awareness and land use change solutions. Most SDGs and Sendai targets are found to be addressed by the solutions emphasising the importance of documenting project experiences as way to bridge previously reported gaps between policy frameworks and on-the-ground implementation. Despite community involvement being high in many of the solutions, challenges such as gender inequality persists. While solutions often demonstrate local relevance and depth of change, upscaling remains challenging, with limited evidence of mainstreaming and replication. Sustainability criteria are moderately met, incorporating inclusive decision-making but with uncertainty regarding long-term plans. Furthermore, findings underscore the significance of co-developing and maintaining adaptation solution portals, illustrating how this approach enriches our understanding of adaptation progress in mountains. Moreover, this research contributes to broadening the scope of systematic adaptation assessments by providing a nuanced perspective that integrates local needs and diverse knowledge systems. In essence, this study makes a valuable contribution to the evolving landscape of adaptation research, emphasizing the importance of practical insights and collaborative efforts to address the complex challenges posed by climate-related impacts and corresponding adaptation efforts.

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1 Introduction

Climate change is having a significant impact on mountain ecosystems, which are home to a quarter of the world’s population and a source of freshwater for billions of people (Adler et al. 2022 ). Mountain communities are highly dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods, and changes in the mountain environment can have significant social, economic, and cultural impacts (Huss et al. 2017 ; Mengistu et al. 2020 ; Schmeller et al. 2022 ; Reader et al. 2023a ). Alongside climate and environmental change, demographic change, land use change and urbanisation also create numerous disruptions, in particular when settlements and infrastructures appear in hazard-prone areas (Viviroli et al. 2020 ; Thornton et al. 2022 ). Therefore, adapting to climate change in mountains is essential to ensure the well-being of mountain and lowland communities, as well as the long-term sustainability of mountain ecosystems (McDowell et al. 2019b ; Adler et al. 2022 ).

Evidence from mountain specific research confirms that climate adaptation is taking place in many mountain countries, often as a reaction to realised impacts, and sporadically as part of coordinated strategies and plans (McDowell et al. 2019b ; Adler et al. 2022 ). The status quo of mountain adaptation is that of small adjustments to existing risk management strategies with limited scope and extent. Yet, as risks become ever more complex and pervasive, the need to move from small adjustments to substantial innovation and systemic changes, is becoming more pressing (Colloff et al. 2017 ; Klein et al. 2019 ; Palomo et al. 2021 ; McDowell et al. 2021 ). Indeed, in terms of the hallmark approaches taken to adaptation, those of incremental and transformational adaptation, are perhaps the two most prominent (Kates et al. 2012 ). Although, as many authors have noted, there is no fixed definition for transformative adaptation and its interpretation differs among different users and contexts (Fedele et al. 2019 ), its relevance and necessity are nevertheless widely recognized (Klein et al. 2019 ; Bentz et al. 2022 ). Such importance appears to lie in the need to move from business-as-usual or traditional incremental strategies to systemic commitments that better address the complex challenges linked to climate change risks through a shift in paradigms and values (Lonsdale et al. 2015 ). Lately, the success of adaptation, whether transformative or incremental, has become strongly interrelated to its effectiveness in reducing climate risks (Owen 2020 ; Chausson et al. 2020 ), with the feasibility of adaptation as an indication of potential barriers, limits or maladaptation (Singh et al. 2020 ; Thomas et al. 2021 ).

In the pursuit of achieving a synthetic picture of the overall landscape of adaptation, its characteristics, effectiveness and transformative potential, numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses have emerged in the past decade (McDowell et al. 2014 , 2019b ; Berrang-Ford et al. 2015 , 2019 ; Berrang-Ford, Sietsma, et al., 2021 ). Berrang-Ford et al. 2021a combined traditional review methods with machine learning to take stock of empirical adaptation globally. Meanwhile, other reviews have focused on specific sub-topics within the adaptation literature, such as health (Berrang-Ford et al. 2021b ), equity (Araos et al. 2021 ), adaptation limits (Thomas et al. 2021 ), and government adaptation (Berrang-Ford et al. 2019 ). Systematic reviews of adaptation also exist for specific topological regions, including the Arctic (Canosa et al. 2020 ) and mountain areas (McDowell et al. 2014 , 2019b ; Terzi et al. 2019 ; Vij et al. 2021 ).

These reviews have proved extremely valuable to tracking adaptation progress, and some have played a key role in global assessments such as the IPCC (Berrang-Ford et al. 2021a ; Adler et al. 2022 ; O’Neill et al. 2022 ). Notwithstanding, they predominantly assess adaptation if evidence is reported in the academic literature. Technical and logistical challenges have been identified when attempting at systematically assessing adaptation practice from the grey literature in ways that are comparable and on pair with the academic evidence (Berrang-Ford et al. 2021a ). This is often because adaptation projects carried out in the public, NGO and private sectors are seldomly reported in peer-reviewed literature (McDowell et al. 2019b ; Berrang-Ford et al. 2021a ; Vij et al. 2021 ). In response, a number of portals have been developed over the years to track adaptation on the ground, such as Climate-Adapt of the European Environment Agency (Mattern and Jol 2018 ; Dubo et al. 2022 ), the Climate Change Knowledge Portal of the World Bank, and the Dutch adaptation web portal (Laudien et al. 2019 ). Facts and figures from these portals are starting to gain recognition by the scientific literature, and their usefulness is increasingly acknowledged (Laudien et al. 2019 ; Dubo et al. 2022 ; Jevne et al. 2023 ).

This study responds to the urgent need of shedding light on adaptation practice in mountains by compiling wide ranging facts and figures from a dedicated portal on adaptation solutions in mountain regions. It seeks to produce a comprehensive inventory of adaptation efforts taking place in mountains as part of realised and ongoing projects. The focus is placed on implemented adaptation solutions, where solutions are referred to as actual measures, approaches, or processes designed to adjust natural or human systems to current or anticipated climate-related impacts in ways that reduce climate risks and increase resilience (Haasnoot et al. 2020 ). Solutions were collected from the Adaptation at Altitude Solutions Portal (hereafter A@A Solution portal) (Adaptation at Altitude 2021 ), which was co-designed by scientists and practitioners in response to the increased needs of a more practice-oriented science of adaptation that takes into account local necessities and different knowledge systems (Muccione et al. 2019 ). We assessed 88 adaptation solutions initially featured in the A@A Solution portal, implemented across various mountain regions and countries by different organizations and project developers. We explored their characteristics, feasibility and transformative potential. By highlighting the importance of co-developing and maintaining an adaptation solution portal, we demonstrate how such an approach enriches our understanding of adaptation progress in mountains and contribute to broaden the landscape of systematic assessments ofadaptation.

2 Methods and data

The methodological approach used in this study was designed in the context of Adaptation at Altitude (hereafter A@A), launched in 2020. A@A aims to enhance the resilience and adaptive capacities of mountain communities (Adaptation at Altitude 2021 ). The programme addresses four main challenges of adaptation in mountains, namely: (1) data information and monitoring; (2) regional science-policy exchange and collaborative action; (3) knowledge generation and sharing; and (4) policy mainstreaming. To address challenge three, “knowledge generation and sharing”, an online survey was designed to systematically collect relevant information from mountain adaptation projects with the ultimate goal of building a live portal of adaptation solutions in mountains. To this end, the A@A Solution Portal collects, in one place, relevant information concerning numerous adaptation projects and their implementers around the world. The portal allows the sharing and exploring of past or ongoing tried-and-tested adaptation solutions in mountain regions. A schematic view on the methodological approach used in this study is given in Fig.  1 and explained in the next sub-sections.

Schematic overview of the methodological approach used in the paper from survey design to assessment of the solutions

2.1 Survey design

The survey employed to populate the A@A solution portal was co-designed by the partner institutions of the programme and informed by a preparatory phase that included a user needs assessment, as well as a review of existing on-line climate adaptation platforms. The user needs assessment involved eleven semi-structured interviews and one on-line workshop with international actors engaged in the funding, evaluation, planning, management and/or implementation of climate adaptation activities in mountain regions. These stakeholders included representatives from A@A partners, the World Bank, Business for Nature, and lead authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). More detailed information on the project and its partners can be found on the A@A website (Adaptation at Altitude 2021 ). The user needs consultation was done bottom-up and allowed participants to define the type of information most valuable to practitioners and developers of adaptation projects, as well technical gaps or shortcomings of existing platforms. In parallel, the review of on-line platforms providing climate adaptation solutions was also conducted. This review consisted of three main phases: screening, in-depth analysis of selected platforms, and gaps identification. From the 55 platforms screened, 20 were selected for in-depth analysis. This analysis revealed that more than half of the platforms (54%) showcase climate change adaptation (CCA) solutions primarily at the local scale, followed by mixed (23%, this category includes local, regional, national, international and global), national (15%) and regional (8%) level solutions. None of the analysed platforms specifically focussed on mountain regions, nor considered a comprehensive range of factors that enable or limit transformative potential. The results of the preparatory phase are described in (Scolobig A. et al. 2020 ). The final product of the preparatory phase was a survey with multiple choices and open-ended questions that served to populate the solution portal. The survey was co-developed in an iterative process involving A@A partners in eight review rounds. Along with the descriptive information, the survey collected significant supporting documentation, and the contact details of some of the principal actors involved in the planning and/or implementation processes.

An overview of the main information collected through the survey is given in Table  1 , while a copy of the survey can be found in the supplementary material. Project implementers fill in the survey through an electronic template. This process benefitted from the extensive media efforts of the A@A team that promoted the survey and ultimately the solution portal on websites of the partner institutions, Facebook, X (former Twitter) and LinkedIn, as well as in workshops, seminars, and conferences, mainly under the umbrella of the A@A programme. In addition to project implementers directly responding to the survey, the A@A team also actively collected information from project resources available online, in all cases iterating with project implementers to ensure accuracy of the information entered into the portal. Training resources for filling in the survey, such as a step-by-step guide, an example of a filled-in survey, and the inclusion of sample responses into the questionnaire were made available through the A@A website. To secure consistency and high quality of information, all completed surveys undergo a quality control evaluation, performed by the project team before the corresponding adaptation solution is published on the portal. At the time of writing this article, the A@A Solution Portal consisted of 88 solutions.

2.2 Analytical framework of the survey

For the purpose of this study, we assessed the (1) general characteristics of the solutions, namely location, climate impact addressed, type of mountain ecosystem, sectors where the solution was implemented and type of solution, (2) their feasibility and effectiveness, and (3) their transformation potential. To measure feasibility, we followed a concept developed by Singh et al. 2020 where feasibility is understood as the potential for an adaptation solution to be implemented. We measured the contribution made to the implementation of the solutions in terms of knowledge, technology, political/legal, institutional and socio-cultural factors, to which we refer as “capacities”. Such list of factors was agreed upon using existing literature (Singh et al. 2020 ) and supplemented by the user needs consultations. The analogy of feasibility with capacity is related to the concept of adaptive capacity in adaptation science, which is the ability of a systems to prepare for, or respond to potential damages, and to take advantage of new opportunities by making the appropriate adjustments. The definition of each category is provided in Table  1 . We measured each category using a qualitative scoring from 0 (not present) and 1 (very low), to 5 (very high). To capture effectiveness, we focused on the outcomes of adaptation (Singh et al. 2020 ), both as risk reduction benefits and as more extensive benefits derived from adaptation as improvement in environmental, economic or socio-political conditions (Remling and Persson 2015 ; Sharifi 2021 ).

Regarding the transformation potential of adaptation solutions, this was measured using the four key dimensions for transformations developed by the World Bank (World Bank Group 2016 ). This choice is justified by the need to focus on an approach coming from an applied or practical perspective. In a nutshell, we measured four dimensions:

Relevance – does the solution address a major constraint or problem of critical importance to sustainable development in mountain regions?

Depth of change – does the solution cause or support fundamental change in a governance system or behaviour?

Scalability of change – could the solution be feasibly scaled-up and duplicated in other mountain regions?

Sustainability – does the solution demonstrate financial, economic, and environmental sustainability?

One key difference from more academic approaches such as those that measure transformations as speed (how fast adaptation is being implemented), scope (breadth of the measures in terms of both sectorial and spatial extent), and depth (represents the novelty of adaptation actions) (Termeer et al. 2017 ; Berrang-Ford et al. 2021a ), is that we allocated a greater emphasis on the potential for scaling up, rather than on the initial scale of the solution. This enabled the inclusion of small-scale solutions (e.g., community-based approaches) that may be only in the pilot phase but offer large potential for future replication and mainstreaming. An overview on the characteristics assessed, as well as proxies to measure feasibility, effectiveness and transformation (or transformative potential) is given in Table  1 .

For the data analysis, the information included in the solution portal was downloaded from the A@A Portal website and saved in an excel sheet. The dataset was subjected to a series of pre-processing steps to ensure its suitability for subsequent analysis. The dataset was structured into a Pandas dataframe object. The dataframe serves as a two-dimensional, size-mutable, and heterogeneous tabular data structure, providing a convenient and intuitive way to perform data manipulation and analysis (Pandas 2024 ). To facilitate analysis of categorical variables, we applied one-hot encoding, converting categorical attributes into a binary representation. Such transformation is essential for preparing categorical data for certain types of analysis that require numerical input. To analyse the solution description text, we first utilize the spaCy ( https://spacy.io/ ), which is an open-source natural language processing library specifically crafted for extracting information from text corpora. Subsequently, the term-frequency times inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) technique is employed to reducing the influence of frequently occurring words that lack informative value within the corpus (Leskovec 2014 ). TF-IDF serve diverse purposes, including facilitating the visualization of words via word clouds.

The capacities were scored on a five-point scale going from very low to very high. The score for each solution and its capacities was assessed by a minimum of 2 project members to check for consistencies and discussions were held until agreement was reached on the final score. The score was also triangulated with the qualitative description of the text on the corresponding capacity, which is also stored in the solution database.

At the time of analysis, the solution portal contained 88 discrete adaptation solutions. New solutions are being uploaded to the A@A Portal on an ongoing basis. The final dataset with the 88 solutions can be found in the supplementary material and the notebooks needed to reproduce all analysis and figures are available through the https://github.com/vmuccion/Adaptation-Altitude .

3.1 General characteristics of solutions

The first entry in the database alongside the unique title, is a description of the solution. Figure  2 displays a word cloud illustrating the prevalence of the words extracted from the description text. Notably, “water” is highlighted as the most prevalent word, followed by other key words such as “community”, “land”, “local”, and “capacity”. This pattern indicated a prevalence of community and local based measures, with water being the dominant aspect, not only in terms of sector, but also concerning the typology of solutions.

World cloud of most frequent single words obtained from the summary description of the solutions

The geographical distribution of solutions in Fig.  3 (top panel) shows that there is a considerable tendency in the portal towards specific regions such as North and Southwestern South America, East Africa, and the Hindukush Himalaya (HKH) region. Moreover, there is a handful of solutions in Europe and the Caucasus, but so far, none from North America or Oceania. This is because the solution portal was mainly an effort to collect solutions from the Global South, expressed through the stakeholder needs consultation. However, efforts are underway to have a more balanced geographical coverage that includes additional regions. When it comes to the impacts addressed (Fig.  3 bottom panel), a diversity can be observed in the majority of continents, except in Europe.

Top figure shows a choropleth map of the solutions per country. The bottom figure shows the proportion of climate impacts addressed per continent. Only continents having at least one solution or more are shown

The general characteristics of the solutions are shown in Fig.  4 . Across all solutions, drought emerges as the most common climate impact addressed (63), followed by flood (39), and almost in equal proportion, landslides, altered growing seasons, and heat stress. Wildfire is addressed by only 5 solutions. In addition to these main impacts, the portal retains information on secondary impacts as well. The open nature of this question resulted in greater diversity in terms of reported impacts. In this case, water stress is the most common secondary impact, followed by land degradation, and glacier lake outburst flood. Other secondary impacts include erosion, snow scarcity, and unseasonal frost. The distribution of solution types shows that education and awareness, as well as land use practice, are the most common solution types, followed by monitoring and engineering strategies. Finance solutions are the least common. The sectorial distribution is dominated by agriculture and water, reflecting the emphasis on addressing drought and flood. A similar distribution is seen amongst other sectors, namely human health and well-being, natural hazards, plans and policy, ecosystem, and biodiversity. Tourism and transport are the least covered sectors. Finally, there is a more proportional distribution in the ecosystem types, with a prevalence of agricultural land, forest and high alpine. Urban solutions represent the lowest percentage.

Summary of the main characteristics across all solutions, from top to bottom clockwise, in orange the number of solutions per climate impact addressed, in blue the number of solutions per mountain ecosystem type, in green the number of solutions per solution type and finally in pink the number of solutions per sector

To gain deeper insights into adaptation efforts—particularly the nature, location, and methodologies of implemented solutions—we analyzed the co-occurrence of selected pairs of characteristics. As depicted in Fig.  5 , this analysis focuses on the relationships between solution types and climate impacts (left panel), as well as between solution types and ecosystems (right panel). Notably, education and awareness initiatives, along with land use practices, emerge as the predominant strategies employed to address a wide array of impacts. This includes adapting to the effects of droughts and floods, which constitute the primary climate impacts documented within our portal. Our observations reveal that solutions emphasizing education and awareness are frequently implemented in response to these challenges, complemented by the adoption of land use practices and engineering solutions. However, wildfire mitigation efforts are relatively limited, represented by only five documented solutions, thus revealing a lack of discernible co-occurrence patterns. Moreover, when examining the ecosystems wherein these solutions are enacted, it becomes evident that education and awareness types, alongside land use practices, are prevalent across diverse ecosystem types, spanning from agricultural lands to lakes and rivers. Conversely, fewer solutions are observed in ecosystems such as meadows, peatlands, and urban mountain areas, resulting in a lack of notable co-occurrence patterns within these contexts.

The heatmap on the left side represents co-occurrence between solution types and climate impact addressed; the heatmap on the right side represents co-occurrence between solution types and ecosystem types. The numbers within each cell represent the observation counts in ascending order from light blue to dark blue

3.2 Feasibility and effectiveness

Presented here are the feasibility results assessed through the lenses of five capacity categories, scored on a qualitative scale ranging from very low to very high, as shown in Fig.  6 . As can be observed, many of the solutions exhibit very high capacity in all the categories. Knowledge capacities ensure that adaptation is informed from the outset by diverse knowledge types, including scientific, evidence based, and indigenous knowledge. Overall, political/legal and technology capacities were evaluated by solution providers as less crucial than knowledge, institutional, and socio-cultural capacities in enabling the implementation of the solutions. In contrast, providers gave high evaluations to the role played by socio-cultural and institutional capacities. However, it should be noted that approximately one quarter of solutions do not report results on one or more capacities. This gap in reporting complicates the determination of whether a specific capacity is relevant for that solution or not.

The figure shows the number of self-assessed solutions with respect to the five dimensions of capacity on a qualitative scale going from very low to very high. NA means that the dimension was either not assessed or was not relevant

In order to understand the effectiveness of solutions in delivering positive changes ex-post, we explored various categories of benefits. All solutions have benefits associated to them. Our observations indicate that the majority of solutions have resulted in environmental benefits (33), followed by climate risk reduction (32). Other key benefits include social (13), economic (6), and technological (1) benefits. No solution indicates political benefits (Fig. 7 ).

Number of solutions reporting some type of benefits after implementation

3.3 Transformative potential

The last segment of the analysis focuses on the assessment of the transformative potential of solutions whereby transformation is assessed according to the indicators described in SM Fig.  1 . The file used to assess the transformative potential is uploaded as supplementary dataset. Figure 8  summarises the results, depicting the number of solutions addressing specific criteria measured by corresponding sets of indicators. As it can be observed, relevance is prevalent across almost all the solutions, except for a handful which either address only one sector or report no specific climate impacts. The depth of change also shows a similar behaviour, with most solutions showing evidence of innovation within their own context and addressing multiple SDGs and Sendai Targets. Further details on specific SDGs and Sendai Target, as well as on their relationship, is provided later in this section. Sustainability is reported in more than two thirds of the solutions, while only a few solutions provide evidence on the scalability of change. While we acknowledge the importance of tailoring adaptation solutions to local environmental, cultural, social and institutional contexts, under transformative adaptation there is an expectation to see learnings and a pathway forward as to how the basic fundamentals of the solution could be transferred to another community, village, district, country or region. Evidence of mainstreaming into wider policies and plans is reported in less than one third of the solutions, and approximately half of them offer evidence of overcoming barriers and successful replication.

Number of solutions for each indicator of transformative potential. A score of 1 is given for each of the indicators being present and 0 when there is no evidence of such. Indicators corresponding to the same dimension of transformations are grouped by colour to facilitate observations. The dimension is shown on top of each group of indicators

In line with the survey design and scope of the study, this analysis includes a review of the principal contributions that the solutions provided to the SDGs (United Nations, 2022). Likewise, the survey also sought to investigate evidence of supporting at least one of the 7 global targets set under the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Observations indicate that most solutions address at least one SDG, while 18 solutions do not address any of the Sendai targets. Overall, all SDGs, except “life under water” (Fig. 9 ), and all of the Sendai targets (Fig. 10 ) are addressed by the solutions. Some solutions address more than one SDG or Sendai target. As it could be expected given its relevance on the matter of climate adaptation, the most common SDG addressed is Goal 13 (Climate Action), followed by Goal 15 (Life on Land), and Goal 1 (No Poverty). Goals 4 (Quality Education), 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), and 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) are the least frequent. In the case of Sendai Targets, target B, “Substantially reduce the number of affected people globally by 2030”, is addressed by almost 2/3 of the solutions. Target A, “Substantially reduce global disaster mortality by 2030”, is the least addressed target.

The figure shows the number of solutions addressing each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Details on the SDGs are provided on the right side of the figure

The figure shows the number of solutions addressing each of the 7 Sendai Targets. Details on the targets are provided on the right side of the figure

4 Discussions and conclusions

Documented adaptation efforts which are measurable and comparable are critical to track progress on the status of implementation (Magnan and Chalastani 2019 , Nalau 2021 ). Therefore, it is essential to assess adaptation experiences by systematically collecting and analysing information on implementation that is happening on the ground (McDowell 2019 ). To respond to this need and as testimony of increasing adaptation efforts, several adaptation portals have appeared in the past few years. These portals facilitate organized tracking of adaptation progress and are well suited for further analysis and assessments (Cebrián-Piqueras 2023 ). In this study, we analysed and assessed the recently implemented or ongoing adaptation solutions in mountain regions, that were collected from the Adaptation at Altitude Solution’s Portal.

The initial survey employed to populate the portal, was co-designed with a bottom-up process by experts and practitioners, this with the aim to capture the elements of adaptation which matter to both groups.

Our research results illustrate that drought (63) is largely the most targeted climate impact, followed by flood (39). This finding is corroborated by systematic reviews, and research articles consistently highlights drought as the primary climate impact targeted for adaptation, followed by flood, in mountain regions (Dubo et al. 2022 ; Wyss et al. 2022 ). Furthermore, the latest IPCC report also indicates that drought and flood pose key risks with the potential for severe consequences for mountain people and livelihoods and highlighted the significance and urgency of addressing water-related hazards in mountains (Adler et al. 2022 ). The prevalence and importance of water for mountains and adaptation are visible in the key words analysis of solutions summary description in Fig.  2 . Interestingly, it is observed that many of the solutions addressing water-related impacts prioritize the integration of watershed management practices. These practices have demonstrated their capacity to effectively tackle multiple concerns beyond climate impacts, including the improvement of water quality (Shin et al. 2023 ), the promotion of aquifer recharge (Bigdeli Nalbandan et al. 2023 ), and the enhancement of the natural linkages between upstream and downstream areas through transdisciplinary planning process (Cheng et al. 2017 ).

When examining the type of solutions, there is a prevalence of education and awareness focused solutions, followed by land use practices. These solutions although implemented to address the majority of climate impacts, appear to be commonly implemented to respond to impacts from floods and droughts (see Fig.  5 ). Evidence indicates that the implementation of this type of solutions is often accompanied by improvements in project acceptability and reduced risk of maladaptation (Nalau and Cobb 2022 ). This positive outcome is attributed to the fact that awareness is, in most cases, the result of community involvement (Oliver et al. 2023 ). The solutions showcased on the A@A Solutions Portal reveal a high involvement of local community groups and populations in project activities, well beyond the classical initial consultations. Remarkably, about 75% of solutions show inclusive decision making (see Fig. 8 ). However, despite the pivotal role of community participation, the exercise often faces a number of challenges and requires careful handling to prevent the reinforcement of social issues, such as gender inequality and class-based hierarchies (Nalau and Cobb 2022 ; Singh 2020 ).

Agriculture land and forests emerge as the main mountain ecosystems wherein solutions are reported, with agriculture and water being the main sectors within which solutions are mostly implemented. This further reflects the importance of tackling water-related impacts and risks for the management of critical sectors, given that mountains boast some of the highest proportions of water availability globally, as well as water withdrawal (Reader et al. 2023b ). The type of solutions implemented in these mountain ecosystems point at a prevalence of education and awareness and land use practices since, as already mentioned, these are by far the most used solutions. It is not surprising that land use practices are highly present in forest and agricultural land areas. However, while the dataset highlights a significant contribution of education and awareness as adaptation solutions in almost every typology of ecosystem, it paradoxically reveals a low impact on Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) regarding quality education (Fig. 7 ). This discrepancy may stem from the underreporting of capacity-building and awareness-raising activities under the broad category of education. Additionally, it prompts consideration of whether the targets outlined in SDG 4 are perceived as exclusively related to conventional curriculum-based education, potentially overlooking non-traditional forms of educational initiatives such as those related to awareness raising or building capacity. McKenzie et al. ( 2024 ) have argued that indeed it is currently difficult to track progress on SDG4 in relation to climate change due to a lack of quality and appropriate indicators. Despite this discrepancy, the overall picture remains positive, with many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Sendai targets being addressed laterally within the solution portal, with only a few exceptions (Fig. 7 ). This observation aligns with the significant synergies underscored in the IPCC WG2 Cross-Chapter paper on Mountains (Adler et al. 2022 ). Based on the findings of our research, we have identified that several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Sendai targets are indeed addressed within the solution portal. This evidence counters previously highlighted gaps that acknowledged the limited evidence of implementation of international agendas in addressing disaster risk reduction and adaptation in mountainous regions (Adler et al. 2022 ; Alcántara-Ayala et al. 2022 ). By tracking evidence collected from empirical adaptation, we underscore here the imperative for sustained efforts to bridge the disparity between policy frameworks and their practical implementation on the ground.

Nuanced concepts such as feasibility, effectiveness, and transformative potential, were assessed by means of proxy indicators. In the case of feasibility, we examined the score of five main categories of capacity that were present in the project survey and that are analogous to the characterisation of feasibility according to existing literature (Singh et al. 2020 ). Although the results in Fig.  6 would point at high to very high capacity for many categories, we recognise that there is a high proportion of solutions which do not provide such information and cannot be assessed. There are nonetheless some noticeable patterns as for example, the fact that knowledge capacities score very high for more than half of solutions, whereas technological capacities show a more heterogeneous picture as enablers of solution implementation. This could be due to technology in mountain areas, being used in diverse ways, such as the development of high-resolution models that incorporate climate and socio-economic impacts on natural ecosystems, and on significant resources such as hydrological components (Immerzeel et al. 2020 ). At the same time, adaptation initiatives may rely on the formulation of structural and physical components (e.g., hard adaptation), addressing agriculture and food security, water management, and infrastructure, for example, through the creation of reservoirs and modern irrigation systems, water conservation techniques, and hazard management technologies such as early warning systems (Adler et al. 2022 ). However, in contrast, solutions which focus on education and awareness raising do not rely upon strong technical capacities from the onset, but rather aim to build these capacities through the lifetime of the project. A more pessimistic explanation for the medium to low scores could be the lack of appropriate technological know-how and technology transfer where it is most needed (Wang et al. 2020 ). This though would be at odds with the high score in the knowledge capacities, which can be reasonably associated with technological knowhow, among other dimensions of knowledge. The effectiveness also scores low in technical and political benefits, which might again indicate a persistence in the low technologic and political scores even after solutions are implemented. This last assertion would confirm the findings in McDowell et al. 2021 ; which cite limited technological know-how and political willingness as hindrances to the full realization of adaptation solutions in mountainous areas. In general, we can infer that solutions are being effective in reducing risks and improving environmental conditions and are benefitting from high knowledge capacities to enable implementation. Nevertheless, solutions do not seem to spur technological or political improvements, or such improvements are not relevant to the project scope, which suggests possible missed opportunities for important co-benefits. Analogous studies which performed systematic assessments of the adaptation literature in mountain regions have reported also environmental co-benefits but limited political or institutional positive spill over (Aggarwal et al. 2022 ).

To get a sense of the transformative potential of solutions, we explored transformations through the lenses of four criteria, namely relevance, depth of change, scalability of change, and sustainability. We see from the results in Fig. 8  that solutions are being implemented where they are most relevant, and that almost all of them cause or support fundamental change (depth of change). As most solutions are local or sub-national (see Fig.  3 ), it is plausible to infer that such depth of change happens more at the community level. However, the fact that upscaling is difficult to achieve poses questions concerning the identification of the enabling factors that eventually lead to upscaling. This is also supported by the finding that only a handful of solutions provide evidence of mainstreaming and replication. Berrang-Ford et al. ( 2021a ) confirmed this trend of limited scope of solutions in their global stocktake of human adaptation. Indeed, they reported that globally, adaptation solutions generally have a limited geographical extent and low levels of mainstreaming (Berrang-Ford et al. 2021a ). In part, this comes down to the typical short duration of adaptation projects (4–5 years) where mainstreaming becomes something of an afterthought towards the end of the project cycle rather than a goal in itself. Nonetheless, the reported success of the mountain solutions in terms of depth of change at local or sub-national level bodes well for future mainstreaming and upscaling, even if this is not occurring as rapidly as would be desired.

In essence, we can say that while the criteria of relevance and, to a geographically limited extent, depth of change, have largely been met, solutions had difficulties in demonstrating that their contribution to deliver large-scale impact by introducing new measures into the local policy frameworks or by replicating their actions in other locations. Research on social innovation identifies different types of upscaling that may be instrumental also for climate adaptation (Moore et al. 2015 ), namely, scale up (impacting laws and policies), scale out (increasing number of people or communities impacted by the solution), and scale deep (impacting cultural values and beliefs). Given the longer time frames needed, designing project with a second phase dedicated to mainstreaming and upscaling efforts would significantly increase the transformative potential of adaptation solutions in mountain regions.

The sustainability criteria are moderately met for our analysed solutions, and it is encouraging to see that inclusive decision-making processes and future proofing are being embedded in many of them. It is less clear though, whether long term plans are being integrated, and again, this is something that confirms the limited scalability and mainstreaming potential of solutions. Limited scalability, mainstreaming, and long-term planning could be all explained by an observed tendency in climate project decision making to leave planning and discussion around scaling up or replication until very late stages or following the closure of interventions (Jain and Bardhan 2023 ). Furthermore, the gap in the implementation of adaptation mainstreaming seems closely related to the lack of political commitment and mandate at the higher governmental levels (Runhaar et al. 2018 ).

Far from being all encompassing, the A@A Solution Portal misses yet the showcasing of other important mountain regions, possibly because of a bias in the initial scope of the survey and solicitation efforts, which were mainly geared towards international development and cooperation. Fortunately, efforts are underway to have a more geographically balanced display of solutions that will enhance learning between mountain regions in the global south and north. It is worth pointing out that the portal collected information not only from the project developers and implementers but also triangulated this information with project evaluation reports, which are usually developed by independent evaluation bodies and consultants. Typical mid-term or final project reports are normally based on a mix of interviews conducted with those involved in project implementation and projected beneficiaries. To minimise bias in reporting, the information was thoroughly screened for quality control by the independent team members from the A@A project. For example, project reports only seldomly involve any longer-term monitoring and evaluation of the solutions. Hence, effort was made during the quality control to ensure that statements around the foreseen long-term success and sustainability of the solutions was well-supported with concrete evidence that financial and technical plans were in place. Obvious difficulties exist for reaching out to an independent and representative sample of stakeholders, particularly ensuring representation of the most vulnerable or marginalised members of the communities. Therefore, the implementation of adaptation project design should from the beginning include more regular external evaluations and broader stakeholder engagement, whose views would equally constitute the body of independent evidence for ex-post project assessment (Wamsler et al. 2020 ; Oliver et al. 2023 ). In absence of such independent information, it is often difficult to get a sense of the progress for those who are the direct beneficiaries of these solutions and therefore such views cannot fully by captured in the remit of this solution portal. The second phase of the A@A project will attempt to fill this gap for selected solutions, by undertaking focus group meetings and interviews with benefactors and other stakeholders to gain ground level insights on the long-term effectiveness of the implemented solutions.

Another challenge of adaptation is the persistent lack of integration of concepts and terminology across different strains of literature, whether adaptation, vulnerability, or impact driven (Berrang-Ford et al. 2021a ). This has been identified as a persistent barrier to adaptation assessment. To this end we invoke here for a common adaptation taxonomy. Currently absent, such a taxonomy would require consensus within the broadest community, offering scholars and practitioners a detailed and common description of benefits, ecosystems, sectors, solutions, capacities, as well as other critical concepts. The survey conducted within this study presents intriguing entry points for such a taxonomy specific to mountain regions. For instance, it identifies solutions and their characteristics in mountains, including sectors, ecosystems, and solution types. Yet, further work is necessary to achieve a robust consensus.

Data availability

Data and Jupyter notebooks for the analysis are all accessible through the following GitHub repository https://github.com/vmuccion/Adaptation-Altitude .

Code Availability

The notebooks are accessible through GitHub: https://github.com/vmuccion/Adaptation-Altitude .

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Acknowledgements

This research has been supported by the Adaptation at Altitude project, which is a project financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). 

Open Access funding provided by Lib4RI – Library for the Research Institutes within the ETH Domain: Eawag, Empa, PSI & WSL. No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript. The authors also declare that they have no financial interests.

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Veruska Muccione

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VM developed the concept for the paper and wrote every section of the manuscript. She did extensive data pre-processing and most of the data analysis. SKA had the initial ideas for such a paper and contributed in developing the methodology to assess the transformative potential together with JA. AS and JA were actively involved in the development of the methodology for the data collection and quality control. RW and JB hosted the portal database and provided VM with the raw dataset from the Adaptation at Altitude website. RW maintained the Adaptation at Altitude Portal together with JZ, OS, and SKA. Everyone contributed to edit and revise the paper. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to [email protected].

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Muccione, V., Aguilera Rodriguez, J., Scolobig, A. et al. Trends in climate adaptation solutions for mountain regions. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change 29 , 74 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-024-10168-8

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Small solutions, big impacts: 5 community-based projects tackling climate change

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There are thousands of small-scale, community driven initiatives making a huge difference in people’s lives and contributing to efforts to curb global warming.

In early April, 29 countries pledged more than $5 billion to the UN-backed Global Environment Facility ( GEF ). The Fund said this was “record support, providing a major boost to international efforts to protect biodiversity and curb threats to climate change, plastics and toxic chemicals ”.

But why such a major boost? Well, the GEF is a multilateral fund that serves as a financial mechanism for several environmental conventions including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

It has its own Small Grants Program (SGP) which grants of up to $50,000 directly to local communities including indigenous peoples, community-based organizations and other non-governmental groups investing in projects related to healing our planet.

The initiative is implemented in 127 countries by the UN Development Program ( UNDP ) which provides technical support to these selected local projects that conserve and restore the environment while enhancing people’s wellbeing and livelihoods.

Here at UN News, we want to highlight just five of the over 25,000 projects implemented since 1992, the year the GEF started working. Though the Fund’s projects span the globe, this list features a few initiatives currently improving the future of humankind and wildlife in Latin-America and the Caribbean.

 1. Indigenous women solar engineers bringing light to rural Belize

For people living in cities is sometimes hard to believe that in 2022 there are still communities that don’t have electricity, but more than 500 million people worldwide don’t have access to this kind of service that many consider ‘basic’.

This is the reality for people in the District of Toledo, in Belize, where several rural villages lie far away from the national electricity grid making it hard – and costly – to electrify their communities.

However, thanks to a partnership funded by the GEF’s Small Grants Program (SGP), three Mayan women solar engineers are installing solar energy systems and contributing to sustainable development in small indigenous communities in Southern Belize.

Florentina Choco, Miriam Choc and Cristina Choc, were trained by the Barefoot College in India to build and repair small household solar systems as part of a South-South cooperation exchange (Countries from the Global South sharing technical knowledge with their counterparts, without a developed country involved).

“ These women are shattering the glass ceiling! They have installed solar systems to four indigenous communities impacting over 1000 residents,” says Leonel Requena, SGP Belize National Coordinator.

In 2021, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, these solar engineers, along with national authorities and partners installed these solar energy systems to two of Belize’s most remote communities.

With the work in just one of these villages, Graham Creek , they powered 25 homes benefiting over 150 residents, as well as a primary school with 30 children.

The best of all, UNDP estimates they have helped avoid 6.5 tonnes of carbon emissions.

“Women are outstanding leaders in Belize driving the sustainable development agenda fostering harmony between nature and people for the benefit of both,” adds Mr. Requena.

2. Turning Barbados into a champion of Hawksbill turtles’ conservation

Did you know that extreme temperatures during heatwaves fuelled by climate change are literally cooking baby turtles in their nest ?

Hawksbill sea turtles are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered as their population is decreasing around the world.

For ages, they have been hunted for their eggs and meat and now they are also at risk from coastal development and our changing climate, among other threats.

But a small grant 20 years ago turned into a big opportunity for this species to thrive in the Caribbean Island of Barbados.

The Barbados Sea Turtle Project , based at the University of the West Indies’ Campus, is the home of the regional Marine Turtle Tagging Centre and the wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network.

Tagging turtles helps scientists and conservationists to track their movements, calculate their growth rates, survival and reproductive output.

Barbados is currently home to the second-largest Hawksbill turtle nesting population in the wider Caribbean, with up to 500 females nesting per year. Turtle nesting occurs on most of the beaches around the island, which, like many in the region, is heavily developed with tourism infrastructure.

The Barbados Sea Turtle Project tags these creatures, measures them and archives and analyses the data for over 30 coordinated projects in the region. These research projects inform their conservation activities.

Each August when the baby turtles hatch, the project runners are on call seven days a week to respond to emergencies that might include hatchlings wandering off in the wrong direction or preparing for swells that can wash away nests during hurricane season.

The project runners also help communities promote ecotourism based on best practices, which provides a source of income for local communities.

Barbados is now well known for the success of its sea turtle conservation activities. The degree to which the Hawksbill population has recovered thus far allows trainees to work with large numbers of turtles and experience the challenges posed by extensive coastal development.

The widely renowned project recently received a new small grant from the GEF of $46,310.

“Thanks to this grant [this project has] been able to offer persons from other sea turtle projects in the region the opportunity to be trained alongside BSTP volunteers in a South-to-South Exchange… The ongoing work of the Project is integral to the conservation and protection of threatened and endangered sea turtles, their terrestrial and marine habitats,” said Karen Harper, Programme Assistant of SGP in Barbados.

3. Helping Venezuelan indigenous families mitigate the degradation of the Amazon Forest

Puerto Ayacucho is the capital and largest city of the State of Amazonas in the south of Venezuela, its inhabitants include a number of local indigenous tribes, including the Yanomami, the Panare, the Bari, Piaroa and Guajibo (also known as Jibis).

Many of these populations have been displaced from their lands due to the socioeconomic crisis in the country, as well as the presence of armed groups and illegal mining activities.

The project Amazonas Originaria is currently training a group of indigenous displaced families to sustainably use and care for the tropical forests in the vicinity of Puerto Ayacucho. They are learning how to manage crops of cocoa, cupuaçu, manaca and túpiro (all amazon native plants) as well as how to transform their fruits into pulp, chocolates, baskets and other products.

“This project, in particular, is interesting and inspiring, as it is led by women… it supports the fight against climate change, since its purpose is to conserve the Amazon Forest as the main carbon sink in southern Venezuela, working hand in hand with native communities, valuing their traditions and protecting their ancestral habitat,” explains national SGP coordinator Alexis Bermúdez.

According to the UN Environment Programme, or UNEP , in the Amazon, the world’s largest remaining tropical rainforest, deforestation is reducing carbon stocks and altering the regional climate. The effects of climate change, forest degradation and more forest fires could result in 60 per cent of the Amazon rainforest disappearing by 2050.

The SGP-supported initiative not only trains members of the community to make Amazon-derived products and ecological packaging helping them to diversify their livelihoods, but at the same time it works to restore parts of the degraded tropical forest by re-planting native trees and other species.

“When families pass on this knowledge, we make indigenous communities gain the necessary strength and confidence to face the conservation of their culture and their environment, organize the community for the production and marketing of their products in more select markets and contribute directly to creating a sustainable economy,” Kenia Martinez from Amazonas Originaria notes.

4. Exchanging ideas to make tourism more eco-friendly and sustainable

Clearly, climate change and environmental degradation can´t be tackled by a single community, instead, unity is strength when we talk about exchanging ideas that have already proven successful.

The project Dialogue of Latin American Knowledge around Community Tourism has brought together community tourism ventures from Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Mexico to exchange experiences and good practices.

Tourism is the backbone of some economies and the source of livelihood for many people, especially those living in developing countries, but if mismanaged, it often puts pressure on natural resources through overconsumption, induces stress on local land use, as well as increases pollution and natural habitat loss.

Community tourism, on the other hand, is an economic alternative that allows local communities to generate complementary income to their main productive activities and at the same time protect and value the natural and cultural wealth of their territories.

“Alone we go faster, but together we go further,” Beatriz Schmitt, SGP Panama National Coordinator highlights.

The SGP-supported dialogues consisted of virtual trainings and good practices exchanges with 23 rural organizations focusing on local development, collaborative working networks, marketing, institutional perspective and biosafety protocols.

At the end of the virtual training, participants visited community tourism experiences in Costa Rica where the programme has been promoting rural tourism for 20 years and has established a robust institutional framework.

“Community tourism is a local strategy that brings income to rural communities. This project is important because tourism is not approached only as a business but instead, it is derived from experiences of land conservation where these communities live,” Viviana Rodriguez, SGP Programme Assistant in Panama tells UN News.

She adds that by conserving these areas for tourism and reducing other activities such as large-scale agriculture, small communities are also contributing to the fight against climate change.

5. Saving the water-rich Colombian Paramos, with a gender twist

Colombia's paramos, tundra ecosystems in the Andes mountains that are above the forest line but below the snowline, occupy just 1.7 per cent of the national territory, yet they produce 85 per cent of its drinking water.

Guardianas de los Páramos  (Paramos Women Guardians) is an Alliance between the GEF Small Grants Program and two other organizations that are supporting a variety of community projects focused on conservation and climate change adaptation in the Paramos Pisba and TotaBijagual-Mamapacha, about 280 km to the northeast of Bogotá.

The alliance puts special emphasis on women’s participation since historically, the intervention of women in environmental management has been diminished because of discrimination and inequitable access to resources.

A total of 37 projects were selected benefiting 2,400 families who had been working since 2020 to restore native plants, thus strengthening biological corridors and maintaining protected areas.

The initiatives also include aqueduct adaptation, as well as the implementation of homemade agroecological gardens to reduce the use of traditional productive systems that are harmful to the environment.

“It is necessary to implement actions aimed at controlling or reducing pressures on the paramo and to mitigate negative actions by extractive activities in the area, establishing conservation areas and measures to reduce risks associated with climate change”, says Catalina Avella, the alliance field coordinator.

Paramos are a unique Andean ecosystem, only found in high mountains of the north of South America, they are strategic not only due to their plant and animal biodiversity but also of their ecosystem services, including carbon sequestrations in the soil and water regulation.

The increase in temperatures and changes in rain patterns due to climate change poses a threat to these ecosystems, as well as mining and infrastructure projects.

Great projects, right? So, how can you get involved?

If you have a project related to climate change mitigation, reversing land degradation, sustainable forest management, or protecting biodiversity, visit the Small Grants Program website where you can find out how to apply depending on your country.

SGP grants are made directly to community-based organizations and non-governmental organizations in recognition of the key role they play as a resource and constituency for environment and development concerns. The maximum grant amount per project is $50,000 but averages around $25,000.

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Eco-spatial indices as an effective tool for climate change adaptation in residential neighbourhoods comparative study.

1. Introduction

2. materials and methods, 2.1. research background, 2.2. eco-spatial indices under consideration, 2.3. simulation tool, 2.4. research framework, 2.4.1. calculations of eco-spatial indices, 2.4.2. scenarios building, 2.4.3. simulation phase, 2.5. case study, 3.1. calculations of eco-spatial indices of klobucka housing estate, 3.2. scenarios for mgf and ogf, 3.3. adaptive potential of studied scenarios, 4. discussion, 5. conclusions, author contributions, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Giedych R, Maksymiuk G, Cieszewska A. Eco-Spatial Indices as an Effective Tool for Climate Change Adaptation in Residential Neighbourhoods Comparative Study. Land . 2024; 13(9):1492. https://doi.org/10.3390/land13091492

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• Published: 18 October 2021

Research for climate adaptation

• Bruce Currie-Alder   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3224-4136 1 ,
• Cynthia Rosenzweig 2 ,
• Minpeng Chen 3 ,
• Johanna Nalau 4 ,
• Anand Patwardhan 5 &
• Ying Wang 6  

Communications Earth & Environment volume  2 , Article number:  220 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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• Climate-change adaptation
• Climate-change impacts
• Developing world
• Environmental studies

An Author Correction to this article was published on 28 October 2021

This article has been updated

Adaptation to climate change must be ramped up urgently. We propose three avenues to transform ambition to action: improve tracking of actions and progress, upscale investment especially in critical areas, and accelerate learning through practice.

Ongoing climate impacts are outpacing global mitigation efforts. The reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) show that extreme events are increasing in frequency, intensity, and duration throughout the world. We have entered a climate beyond the range experienced in human history and we must learn to live in that emerging reality. As a result, adaptation needs to ‘increase ambition’ in the terminology of the upcoming 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Glasgow.

Adaptation is the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects. Regardless of how quickly societies decarbonize, global temperatures are already more than 1 °C above the 1850-to-1900 baseline and will continue to rise through mid-century and very likely beyond. 2021 is a year of record-breaking extremes from massive heatwaves and wildfires in the United States and Canada, to deadly floods in China and Germany. In the coming decades, climate change will go on to affect the lives, health, and livelihoods of billions of people. Along with the need to accelerate mitigation, an equally important goal of COP26 is to protect people and nature by increasing ambition for adaptation. We must seize the opportunity for research to enhance its usefulness and usability in order to rapidly upscale adaptation action, now needed more than ever.

Here we outline opportunities for research to accelerate adaptation, based on consultations and interviews with representatives of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the secretariats of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), United Nations University (UNU), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), that is, the organizations that convene the World Adaptation Science Programme (WASP) 1 .

We identify three promising opportunities for progress. First, the Paris Agreement mechanisms to raise ambition, such as the global stocktake, requires research to establish what adaptation is being undertaken, whether it is effective, and if it is adequate in the face of a rapidly changing climate. Secondly, we need to ensure the resilience of—and resilience through—multilateral, domestic, and private investment. This will require research to make risk visible in decisions, to identify scalable and transferable practices, and to look ahead to how such investments perform into the future. Thirdly, research must accompany adaptation actions by communities and professionals, through creative and interactive co-production to enable learning by doing.

Informing the global stocktake

The global stocktake is mandated under Article 14 of the Paris Agreement with the purpose of assessing collective progress on climate change mitigation, adaptation, and the means of implementation, in the light of equity and the best available science. A global goal on adaptation is described under Article 7 as enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience, and reducing vulnerability to climate change. The first stocktake is expected in 2023 and will reoccur every 5 years.

One particular challenge for measuring actions and progress is the wide diversity of climate and socioeconomic conditions as well as of adaptation strategies undertaken by countries and communities around the globe. The knowledge base that underpins the global stocktake needs to embrace the heterogeneity that exists at the national level, and at the same time synthesize information so that global progress can be assessed. Connecting the global goal on adaptation with the myriad of practical actions on the ground, and tracking them through time, is no simple task.

We need practical, and transparent ways of assessing adaptation, underpinned by clear definitions and consistent terminology. At one level, we heard an aspiration for metrics and indicators to monitor and assess progress towards the global goal on adaptation, in a manner that enables comparison across locations and over time. Yet such efforts also raise conceptual issues regarding what counts as adaptation, what constitutes effectiveness, how to respect the diversity of local contexts, and how do they differ from climate-resilient development 2 , 3 , 4 .

Adaptation scholarship is growing in volume and sophistication, the sheer number of articles grew more than five-fold over the most recent decade. Techniques such as systematic literature reviews and machine learning promise to offer new perspective on the state of knowledge and breadth of experience 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 . Such efforts also reveal places where evidence is less readily available, whether due to lack of research or that experience is shared in local languages. This provides a rich opportunity to place increasing focus on locations where evidence is weaker, assessing and synthesising experience-based knowledge from grey literature and making practitioner experience more visible at the global scale.

Guiding climate finance

The Adaptation Gap Report estimates that the annual costs of adaptation in developing countries could range from US$140 billion to US$300 billion annually by 2030 and rise from US$280 billion to US$500 billion by 2050 9 . Addressing these costs will require a drastic increase in the flows of public and private finance. Research needs to make the business case for funding adaptation, demonstrate the returns on investment, and ensuring its delivery where it is most needed. Unlocking finance depends on prioritizing among diverse options to invest in adaptation, assessing the synergies and trade-offs between climate action and development objectives.

Actors differ with respect to what counts as useful information and in what form. Some agencies have in-house units that scan and distill the academic literature, but others require more tailored advice on project proposals. Multilateral, national, and private sources of finance all have distinct knowledge needs, risk appetites, and ways of using evidence. For example, three-quarters of global climate finance is deployed in the country in which it is sourced 10 . In the near-term, research can work with climate finance to strengthen the evidence base and appetite for adaptation-based investment. Even the relatively large Green Climate Fund still relies heavily on grant finance for adaptation and has only two approved projects that leverage private sector funding 11 .

We note some frustration regarding the burden of proof placed upon prospective adaptation investments, the requirement to provide detailed climate scenarios on specific impacts, vulnerabilities, and risks in order to receive funding. Adaptation planning and project proposals are based on understanding the specific climate hazards, the livelihoods and assets at risk, and how investment will address those hazards and create value. Scenarios can also examine how a project might fare under a range of potential climate futures, thus anticipating limits to adaptation or avoiding maladaptation. While logical enough in principle, preparing such a climate justification can become burdensome if information must be continuously redone. Streamlined approaches are needed that are founded on climate science but that can be updated as the climate system and its impacts evolve.

Our discussions also identified instances where proposals were not funded due to a lack of historical climate data. Data collection is essential to strengthen the case for adaptation, in tandem with research that collates, curates, and archives the data so that both short-term and long-term learning can ensue.

Guiding climate finance requires rigorous science as well as sending the right signals to the market and removing barriers to investment. Ultimately research has a role in ensuring all financial flows are compliant with the Paris Agreement are supported by robust evidence, not merely those flows dedicated to assisting developing countries. The research community can help local people, policymakers, farmers, and urban planners make informed decisions by co-developing climate risk information, vulnerability assessments, and adaptation pathways.

Learning through practice

Rapid climate change is now upon us. This requires ongoing engagement among research, policy and practice. Policy and action cannot wait for the slow cycle of research-to-publication-to-recommendation. This decisive decade demands embedded approaches to research, that accompany the pursuit of massively scaled-up climate action. A renewed paradigm of solution- and action-oriented research is emerging. COP26 will see the launch of a new Adaptation Research Alliance to catalyze increased investment in action-oriented research driven by end-user needs.

Research must be integrated into practice: from problem definition to solution implementation, from program design to evaluation. There are, however, multiple barriers—social, economic, political, and institutional—to embracing action research within adaptation. We need to speak to the distinct styles of communication and the incentives that motivate research and policy communities. Research is often painstakingly careful and cautious, whereas policy and practice need timely advice and are deeply grounded in political and practical considerations.

Our interviews tapped into tremendous enthusiasm for adaptation research that is embedded in action. There is an openness for research to accompany implementation of adaptation plans, to catalyze learning from the results of practice, to rapidly scale up what works and let go of what is not effective. Specific expectations raised include the potential for research to facilitate cost-effective action, to provide practical guidance and toolboxes that can be easily accessed and used, and to go further to demonstrate outcomes in practice. Researchers need to understand the decisions practitioners are facing, the information that they need, and contexts in which they operate. This does not mean making research subservient to the pursuit of climate action, but rather to bring its critical eye to refining and enhancing that practice.

Three ways to facilitate action

We have highlighted opportunities for research to inform the global stocktake, guide climate finance, and learn through practice. These three opportunities are all part of the overall shift in adaptation research to move beyond identifying climate risks and vulnerability towards providing a full suite of the knowledge required to implement solutions and improve outcomes in the light of equity and the best available science.

Increasing ambition for adaptation to the climate crisis requires collaboration and change in both the world of science and the world of policy and practice. Policymakers and practitioners need to engage more with researchers, just as researchers need to engage more with policymakers and practitioners. This deeper integration between research and society is beginning to emerge, as scientists are striving much harder to make their findings usable and useful, and policymakers and practitioners are engaging much more directly with the research community. These are the efforts that will elevate adaptation ambition and action across the globe.

Change history

28 october 2021.

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00302-8

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International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada

Bruce Currie-Alder

Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

Cynthia Rosenzweig

Renmin University, Beijing, China

Minpeng Chen

Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Johanna Nalau

University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

Anand Patwardhan

United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya

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B.C. and C.R. conducted the interviews and wrote the paper. All authors (B.C, C.R, M.P.C, J.N., A.P. and Y.W.) contributed to data interpretation, and provided inputs and edits throughout the process.

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Correspondence to Bruce Currie-Alder .

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Currie-Alder, B., Rosenzweig, C., Chen, M. et al. Research for climate adaptation. Commun Earth Environ 2 , 220 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00294-5

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Received : 03 September 2021

Accepted : 29 September 2021

Published : 18 October 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00294-5

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The world has not hit the brakes on methane emissions, a powerful driver of climate change. More than 150 nations have pledged to slash by 30% this decade under a global methane pledge, but new research shows global methane emissions over the past five years have risen faster than ever. 

The trend “cannot continue if we are to maintain a habitable climate,” the researchers write in a Sept. 10 perspective article in Environmental Research Letters published alongside data in Earth System Science Data . Both papers are the work of the Global Carbon Project , an initiative chaired by Stanford University scientist Rob Jackson that tracks greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. 

Atmospheric concentrations of methane are now more than 2.6 times higher than in pre-industrial times – the highest they’ve been in at least 800,000 years. Methane emission rates continue to rise along the most extreme trajectory used in emission scenarios by the world’s leading climate scientists. 

The current path leads to global warming above 3 degrees Celsius or 5 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century. “Right now, the goals of the Global Methane Pledge seem as distant as a desert oasis,” said Jackson, who is the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Provostial Professor in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and lead author of the Environmental Research Letters paper. “We all hope they aren’t a mirage.”  

More methane from fossil fuels, agriculture, and waste 

Methane is a short-lived but highly potent greenhouse gas that comes from natural sources like wetlands and human or “anthropogenic” sources such as agriculture, fossil fuels, and landfills. During the first 20 years after release, methane heats the atmosphere nearly 90 times faster than carbon dioxide, making it a key target for limiting global warming in the near term. 

The data that support the findings of this study are freely available from the Global Carbon Project .

Despite growing policy focus on methane, however, total annual methane emissions have increased by 61 million tons or 20% over the past two decades, according to the new estimates. Increases are being driven primarily by growth of emissions from coal mining, oil and gas production and use, cattle and sheep ranching, and decomposing food and organic waste in landfills. 

“Only the European Union and possibly Australia appear to have decreased methane emissions from human activities over the past two decades,” said Marielle Saunois of the Université Paris-Saclay in France, lead author of the Earth System Science Data paper. “The largest regional increases have come from China and southeast Asia.” 

In 2020, the most recent year for which complete data are available, nearly 400 million tons or 65% of global methane emissions came directly from human activities, with agriculture and waste contributing about two tons of methane for every ton from the fossil fuel industry. According to the researchers, human-caused emissions continued to increase through at least 2023. 

Assessing pandemic impacts 

Our atmosphere accumulated nearly 42 million tons of methane in 2020 – twice the amount added on average each year during the 2010s, and more than six times the increase seen during the first decade of the 2000s.

The world’s five biggest methane emitters by country

China (16%)

United States (7%)

Brazil (6%)

Russia (5%)

Pandemic lockdowns in 2020 reduced transport-related emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), which typically worsen local air quality but prevent some methane from accumulating in the atmosphere. The temporary decline in NOx pollution accounts for about half of the increase in atmospheric methane concentrations that year – illustrating the complex entanglements of air quality and climate change.

“We’re still trying to understand the full effects of COVID lockdowns on the global methane budget,” said Jackson. “COVID changed nearly everything – from fossil fuel use to emissions of other gases that alter the lifetime of methane in the atmosphere.”

Quantifying humans’ influence on methane from wetlands and waterways 

The Global Carbon Project scientists have made an important change in their latest accounting of global methane sources and “sinks,” which include forests and soils that remove and store methane from the atmosphere.

In previous assessments, they categorized all methane from wetlands, lakes, ponds, and rivers as natural. But the new methane budget makes a first attempt to estimate the growing amount of emissions from these types of sources that result from human influences and activities. 

For instance, reservoirs built by people lead to an estimated 30 million tons of methane emitted per year, because newly submerged organic matter releases methane as it decomposes. “Emissions from reservoirs behind dams are as much a direct human source as methane emissions from a cow or an oil and gas field,” said Jackson, who published a new book about methane and climate solutions titled Into the Clear Blue Sky: The Path to Restoring Our Atmosphere (Scribner) in July. 

The scientists estimate that about a third of wetland and freshwater methane emissions in recent years were influenced by human-caused factors including reservoirs and emissions increased by fertilizer runoff, wastewater, land use, and rising temperatures.

After a summer when severe weather and heat waves have given a glimpse of the extremes predicted in our changing climate, the authors write, “The world has reached the threshold of 1.5C increases in global average surface temperature, and is only beginning to experience the full consequences.”

For more information

Jackson is also a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and Precourt Institute for Energy. Other Stanford co-authors include Earth system science postdoctoral scholars Xueying Yu and Mengze Li , and Earth system science Professor Steven J. Davis . Additional study authors are affiliated with Université Paris-Saclay, CSIRO and the Global Carbon Project, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, Yale School of the Environment, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), and the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature in Kyoto, Japan.

This research was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO), the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Programme’s Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub, and Future Earth.

Media contacts

Rob Jackson, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability: [email protected]

Josie Garthwaite, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability: (650) 497-0947, [email protected]

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Study highlights climate policies that actually work to reduce emissions

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To meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and avoid the worst outcomes of climate change, the world needs to rapidly reduce carbon emissions. Identifying effective policies to reach national climate goals has been challenging, but a new study published in Science examined 1500 climate policies implemented over the last two decades, and found 63 that were successful. Researchers have outlined those policies in the paper, so other countries and regulators can emulate their success.

Using advanced statistical analysis, the researchers compared carbon dioxide emissions from 41 countries with those from analogous countries to control for extenuating circumstances like the global pandemic or fluctuations in energy prices. The scientists were looking for “breaks” or sudden changes in emissions that couldn’t be accounted for by anything other than policy interventions.

The study found the most effective way to lower emissions for industries in developed countries is to make producing carbon emissions more expensive. That could take the form of a tax on carbon or removing subsidies for fossil fuels.

“It turns out that pricing is particularly effective in those sectors where you have a lot of profit maximizing companies, and that of course applies to industry and the electricity sector, in industrialized countries with a strong economy,” Nicolas Koch, co-author of the study and researcher with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, told Mongabay in a phone call.

Many developing countries, however, have state-owned energy companies with regulated prices and energy inputs. For these countries, the researchers found a combination of tactics working in tandem was the most effective approach.

Koch gave China’s cap-and-trade scheme as an example. “China introduced pilot emission trading schemes putting a price on carbon for industrial firms in seven provinces of China.,” he said. On top of the carbon pricing China also reduced fossil fuel subsidies and gave financial incentives for energy efficiency measures.

The same tandem approach also works for reducing emissions from buildings. In Sweden regulators introduced subsidies to make it easier for homeowners to improve the efficiency of their homes. Many countries have done that, but Koch said what made Sweden successful was also telling homeowners that the price of heating fuel, both oil and gas, was about to more than double.

Most of the successful policies in the study took this carrot and stick approach. They make carbon emissions expensive and energy efficiency affordable. Koch said he hopes this study will provide regulators with guidance for future emissions reduction strategies.

“We hope that this really applied evidence for very specific cases, looking at your neighbor countries or looking at your peer countries, learning about successes in that way, perhaps that might be helpful,” Koch said.

Banner image: by Pixabay via Pixels

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